Sweet Sacrifice
by mustardsandwich
Summary: Post Kohoha/Akatsuki War. The long-awaited wedding of the century. All ends well, right?. NO! Enter, the baby maker and a borrowed husband... "It was over before it even began..." "How could you teme!" He captured her heart yet tortured her soul...
1. A Typical Day

Summary:

Post Akatsuki/Konoha War. Sakura's checklist: Goal 1 Become a powerful ninja: CHECK. Goal 2 Hook up Naruto and Hinata: CHECK. Ultimate Goal Break the wall around Sasuke Uchiha's heart: CHECK!. The long-awaited wedding of the century. All ends well, right?. NO!… Enter, the baby maker and a borrowed husband.

"How could you teme?…" "It's was over before it even began…" He captured her heart yet tortured her soul.

* * *

Disclaimer:

Naruto belongs to the genius Masashi Kishimoto. However, the story's concept and plot were created by me dedicated to every Naruto fan out there.

"Conversation"

"_Thoughts"_

* * *

Chapter 1: A Typical Day

No one would have guessed that the once stoic, cold-hearted, cough"bitch"cough of an Uchiha would finally be broken by the sweet and subtle (ok not so subtle) cherry blossom. They were like the exact opposite sides of the world. One saw everything in shades of depressing colors while the other always has this vibrant colors like the morning sun. As most of the rookie nine would say, "They were like the night and day." But hey, they made it through all of the drama in their lives, ehem, mind you it was mostly caused by the Uchiha! And Kohona now proved that opposites really do attract.

In was a busy morning for the soon-to-be Uchiha matriarch. Sakura was already up before sunrise. A habit, mostly forced upon her by her job at the hospital but she wouldn't like it any other way. She was currently preparing breakfast in the kitchen of Sasuke's apartment. Wait scratch that, her and Sasuke's apartment. Yep you heard it, her and Sasuke's apartment.

She moved in right after Sasuke proposed to her. Well, more like Sasuke dragged her ass to his apartment with all of her clothes already packed and ready to go.

Point taken. Uchihas never waste time.

Well, works for Sakura. She was living the life that she had always wanted.

A year ago, Sasuke's apartment used to be decorated with dull, plain white walls, a black leather sofa, a 65 inch tv, and a bunch of ninja weapons.

Every time Sakura would visit Sasuke, she somehow felt empty and lonely the moment she steps inside his apartment.

No wonder Sasuke was so moody everyday. His apartment screamed "EMO!" and he just had to start his day waking up inside his depressing apartment.

Again, no wonder he has a bad perception of the world and a negative outlook in life.

But now everything was the exact opposite. Ever since Sakura moved in, she drastically changed his life, INCLUDING his apartment.

The plain white wall was now elaborately decorated with ancient artifacts such as ninja scrolls and paintings. Also, a portrait of Sasuke and Sakura, the team 7, and rookie nine with the Hokage were all hanging in the living room.

It didn't take much of convincing for Sasuke to let her redecorate, in his words "annoyingly mess up," his apartment.

He would always tell her how conniving she really was. Sakura knew that she outgrew her childish body. And now that she has the body of a supermodel and along with her charm, Sasuke was simply at her mercy.

Sakura's body was Sasuke's weakness. Being the smart one, she used it to her advantage. Although he strongly argued that his so called weakness was only her imagination. It was simply effortless on Sakura's part. A little strawberry, whip cream, and lacey underwear were all that was needed to change the mind of this one hard-headed Uchiha.

**"**_**Hmm, funny how things used to be so complicated and yet exciting, but now its so simple and…"** _Sakura's thoughts were cut abruptly by her ever so restless inner soul.

"_MORE EXCITING CHA!" _

**"**_**What the?! Shouldn't you be sleeping under a rock or something?"** _

"_Whaaat? I can't bother you anymore now that you're so busy with our Sasuke-kun?" _replied Inner Sakura with so much vigor which was strangely in contrast for someone whose supposedly grumpy in the morning.

**"**_**Very funny, you tryna be a comedian? Try 10 more years of practice and maybe JUST maybe then you could at least be a decent comedian. AND last time I checked, you weren't a morning person. Why the sudden change?"** _Outer Sakura sarcastically replied while continuing chopping tomato for Sasuke's omelet.

"_Well look who's tryna be funny HA!. AND for YOUR information, I happened to have the best sleep last night. For some reason it was all peaceful and serene. First to be a strangely quiet sleep that I had, ever since you moved here. Not that I'm complaining or anything. HECK NO! Well I can't blame you, there's just too much sexiness emanating from Sasuke-kun, that you just CAN'T simply resist jumping him every moment you see him. Seriously you guys are like rabbits in heat" _

Inner Sakura's eyes were mischievously glinting. Suddenly images of Sasuke and Sakura in their most 'ehem' rough YET passionate moment circled around Inner Sakura's head.

Outer Sakura was blushing so hard like a cherry tomato and at the same time these images left her breathless and she was slowly turning blue.

An awful mixture of colors for Sakura. She looked like someone who's having a hard time pooping.

"_EY!! Don't suffocate me! BREATHE DAMMIT!…" _shouted Inner Sakura who was currently turning blue as well.

**"_Cough, Cough, Cough… Damn, you know it was all your fault. You almost got us killed!"_**

"_The HECK? Ey, don't blame it on me. You were the one who just couldn't stand these images. And you know what, this is really bugging me. Damn, its a big mystery on how innocent you really are even after all your experiences with Sasuke-kun. Makes me wonder on how you handle the animal in him."_

**"**_**Will you shut up!! LALALA!…"** _

"_Hey, don't even try to block me. Cuz it aint gonna work."_

**"_Why are you like this? You should be thanking me because I had enough self-control to tell Sasuke-kun to stop last night because of his mission injuries, or you wouldn't have your so-called peaceful sleep."_**

"_Yeah, yeah whatever PINKIE! I'm out. And by the way, you have no sense of humor whatsoever! POOPOOHEAD!"_

**"**_**URGGHH"** _Sakura was slowly loosing her patience with her inner self while Inner Sakura was cheering for she knew she had won their little battle.

After Inner Sakura's parade, she just disappeared. Probably back under her rock to sleep some more.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!"

Sakura was so startled that she accidentally dropped the pan with sizzling bacon and eggs on her toes. Hissing loudly, she picked up the rest of the ruined breakfast courtesy of this soon-to-be Hokage's loud mouth.

She looked up just in time to see Naruto's blonde messy hair popped out of the corner towards the entrance to the kitchen.

He was grinning sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. By the looks of it, Naruto did something exceptionally stupid. AGAIN.

"Dammit, Naruto! Couldn't you have knocked first instead of just barging in here like you owned the place." Sakura fumed while glaring at Naruto.

Sakura had bits and pieces of bacon and eggs on her burned toes, pink short shorts and tank top, and all over the floor. If looks could freeze someone, Naruto would probably be turned into a giant-orange blob of an iceberg.

"Hehehe, Whoooppss… Sorry Sakura-chan. Well you see, I did knocked on your door, but as usual, your door couldn't handle my awesomenessly ninja skills."

"Naruto, again for the millionth time, awesomenessly is not a word."

"And I'm telling you, it is SO a word. Learned it from one of the greatest sannin ever lived."

"And I've been telling you! Jiraiya-sama's books do not have any literary merit. I still don't get how you and Kakashi-sensei stand those perverted books. And to top that, you even helped Jiraiya-sama in writing his manuscripts. AND ever since Kakashi-sensei found out that you are still helping him, he's been sprouting out random lewd and indecent ideas during missions in front of ME. Kami-sama, what is wrong with you people? I'm just glad that Sasuke-kun has no interest in those pointless books." Sakura stated with a disgusted face.

She started cleaning up the mess created by Naruto.

"PSSSH, Teme?! Not interested in ICHA-ICHA? He must have hid his copies very well."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?" Sakura stopped cleaning and yelled at Naruto's face.

Naruto held on to Sakura's shoulders trying to calm her down.

"Sakura-chan, your Sasuke-kun is not so pure and innocent. Bet you didn't know that some of those 'lewd and indecent ideas' were from Teme. Said he got those ideas from experience," Naruto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

He was trying so hard not to laugh at her reaction. Sakura's eyes were blazing with white fire and Naruto knew that he just crossed a very dangerous path.

"Naruto, YOU BAKA!… I'll pretend I did not just hear you talk about my private life."

"Think what you want Sakura-chan. But, I'm telling you, Teme is one of the most perverted guy I've ever knew. Well, next to Jiraiya and Kakashi-sensei." Naruto shrugged and started eating some of her freshly made bacon and cheese omelet.

Sakura ignored him and continued in making a new omelet because Naruto was currently vacuuming through her and Sasuke's breakfast.

"You know what, I'm really starting to sense trouble and feel concern for the future of Konoha. Considering the fact that your gonna be the next Hokage."

The image of Naruto ruling Konoha with his mischievous antics gave Sakura the shivers.

She really did feel bad for the citizen of Konoha.

It was bad enough that the current Godaime was a notorious gambler and frustrated drunkard, and now Naruto was next in line. Best of luck to the Fire Country.

"What's that suppose to mean?! And here I thought you're my number one fan," Naruto pouted and pretended to cry in front of her.

"Naruto, you better wipe those crocodile tears before I do it for you, and you know for a fact that you're not gonna like it" Sakura was known for her inhumanely strength specially when she's pissed. And it seems like today was not a "messing with Sakura" day.

In a blink of an eye, Naruto was back to his goofy self smiling widely at Sakura. She shook her head, turned around, and continued cooking.

"And I was just kidding. I know the real you. For some reason, you just have this certain hidden strength and loyalty that attract many people that would follow you to the end. I believe that you'll make a good Rokudaime for this country." She replied honestly while gently smiling at Naruto.

At times like this, Naruto couldn't help but thank Kami-sama for giving him a friend like Sakura.

Although, at first he was seriously enamored by her beauty and pursued her endlessly, Naruto soon realized that to him, Sakura was the family he was searching for all this time. She was like the innocent yet strong-willed younger sister that he just felt the need to protect, love, and treasure.

He was really happy that Sasuke opened-up his heart because if he didn't, he was surely missing on one of the greatest gift on earth.

His eyes started misting up with unshed tears. Only this time, it was for real. Naruto was moved by her faith in him that he couldn't help but embrace Sakura.

"Arigatou, imouto-chan." Sakura was not even surprised by his actions. She turned around and hugged him back.

She was used to him acting like this whenever they get on touchy subjects such as this.

She knew the loneliness he felt for she experienced it too when Sasuke left her.

During those lonely times, Naruto supported and cheered her up every time she felt down. He would constantly check on her at the hospital and dragged her many times to the ice cream shop. They would always order and share one-gigantic banana split with vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream covered in a thick layer of hot fudge. Times like those would always melt away her sadness.

And even though he went away to train with Jiraiya, she didn't lose communication with him. He would constantly send her a messenger hawk with a bunch of letters always accompanied with a single flower. Either a white rose or a pink cherry blossom.

"Aww, Aniki your gonna make me cry." Pulling back, Sakura started tearing up as well.

Their little emotional moment was suddenly cut off by a gruff cough coming from the kitchen's entrance.

Arms crossed over his chest, Sasuke was standing in the doorway in nothing but a white shirt and black boxers. His hair was neatly, only in his point of view, styled supporting his trademark chicken-butt hairstyle.

Staring intently at them, Sasuke pointedly looked at Naruto's arms over his girlfriend's tiny waist. His eyebrow starting twitching when he noticed that Naruto's right hand was dangerously close to touching HIS Sakura's finely shaped behind.

"Dobe, you better take your filthy hands off of her or you'll lose it." The young Uchiha prodigy was radiating murderous intent towards his best friend.

Naruto quickly, without a second thought, released Sakura.

"Ehehehehe, morning Teme. How's life?"

Sakura walked towards Sasuke and gave him a feathered kiss on the lips. She knew how possessive he was when it came to his territory. It can't be helped. After all, she was his greatest possession.

"Morning Sasuke-kun."

"Hn." Well bad habits die hard. And Sasuke's infamous one-word sentence was one of them.

She watched curiously as he walked towards Naruto. Without any notice, Sasuke thumped Naruto on the head.

"OWWW… What the fuck is wrong with you? Haven't you pulled out that stick stuck up your ass before going out of bed?!" Naruto started rubbing his sore head which now was sporting a large bump.

"That was for the door, Dumbass."

Sasuke casually walked to the counter. Sat on a chair. Started eating. And deliberately ignored Naruto's rantings about how ungrateful he was, blah blah, ramen was so good, blah blah, Teme's an ice-bitch, blah blah, ichiraku, blah blah, icha icha …

Another thump.

Naruto yelled.

Sasuke ate.

Naruto threw a punch.

Knocked off Sasuke's coffee.

Sasuke retaliated.

Naruto + Sasuke + Breakfast ... Equals... Massive Food Fight...

Sakura looked at them. Eggs, bacon, tomato, banana, orange juice, and pretty much everything on the table were flying across the kitchen.

"_Why couldn't these two act like normal adults? They better not expect me to clean their mess" _Sakura sighed. She felt an upcoming headache.

What a horrible way to start her day.

It was just too early for this. She really wished she didn't wake up early.

She was about to open the fridge's door when she realized what Sasuke said.

Suddenly, his words registered on her brain.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun? Did I just hear you say door?"

The battle was stopped. A cease fire was mutually agreed on by both parties.

Sasuke blankly stared at her and then glared at Naruto.

"Oh, no you didn't!?" Sakura gaped widely at Naruto. She walked out of the kitchen and rushed towards her front door.

There lying on the floor was her poor front door covered with dents and was currently sporting a huge hole the size of a basketball at the center. A loud curse followed by Naruto's name was heard from the hallway.

"_Sakura sure has learned a bunch of colorful words from Tsunade-baa-chan."_ Thought Naruto.

"Dobe, you better start praying." Sasuke smirked at him, sat down the chair, and continued reading his now soaked newspaper. He was just staying behind to watch the show and see how Naruto would suffer under Sakura's wrath. Sadistic bastard.

Sakura emerged from the hallway.

"What the heck Naruto? I swear, you are like a walking disaster waiting to happen."

Naruto narrowly missed her fist aimed directly at his face.

Instantly, he was behind Sasuke trying to use him as a barricade between Sakura's raging fist and his delicate face.

"I'm SOOORRRYYY"

Another punch.

Dodge.

Poor Sasuke was stuck between these two lunatics. Well, served him right.

His eyebrow started violently twitching. Translation: he was starting to lose his patience.

"Dammit! That's the 26th door that you broke down."

"But you gotta give me some credit Sakura-chan. The last ones looked worst that this one." Naruto smugly retorted back.

"Gee, thank you for not breaking it in half or crushing it with rasengan this time around."

Sakura sarcastically remarked while still trying to hit Naruto.

Although, it was extremely hard because she doesn't want to accidentally hit and damage her Sasuke-kun's perfect face.

Naruto should have learned from past experience not to mess with her.

A few months ago, Naruto barged in their apartment at 3 in the morning. The sleeping couple was so startled and upon instinct Sasuke threw a kunai the moment Naruto opened the door to their room.

Naruto narrowly dodged the kunai aimed at his heart but unfortunately for him, Sakura released one of her chakra-enhanced punch knocking him out cold.

Realizing who it was, Sakura's medic-side kicked in. Later, they found out that Naruto came to tell them that he was chosen to be the next Hokage.

He just couldn't contain his excitement and without thinking straight raced towards their apartment, kicked the hell out of their door, broke it in half, and flew straight to their room.

When he woke up, Sakura gave him another punched for scaring the hell out of them. Then, showered him with hugs and congratulated him. She was one of the most temperamental girl Sasuke had ever met.

Sakura thought that he has learned his lesson for Naruto was sporting a broken nose and a nice purple black-eye for a week. Clearly, the nine-tailed fox's fast healing abilities were not enough.

But as usual, Naruto would always be Naruto.

He would never learn. And he, yet again, pissed off Sakura.

"Ey, look whose talking. If I remember clearly, you smashed Sasuke's door into pieces when he was confined at the hospital after a mission."

"That was a very different and EXEPTIONAL case. That stupid nurse wouldn't let me in just so she could spend some quality time peeking at MY Sasuke-kun." Just thinking about that nurse made her blood boil.

Good for her, Naruto was present to relieve her anger. An image of Naruto limping out of her apartment sounded just about right to her.

Their banter continued on. To Sasuke, it was utterly pointless and stupid. The dobe would never change. She was just wasting her breath trying to talk some sense to someone who has mind of a three year old.

Unnoticed, Sasuke quietly stood up. Looked at their direction.

Blank obsidian eyes turned from bored to an icy glare.

Walked towards the two.

Grabbed Naruto's shirt, hurled him out of his apartment, picked up the door, forcibly slammed it shut, and infused some sealing chakra to keep it in place.

Naruto was pounding at the door, yelling obscenities, and challenging him for a fight.

"Dobe, Get Lost!"

With that final word, he turned around, walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, and came face-to-face with Sakura looking strangely at him.

He stopped in front of her.

He glared.

She stared.

And out of nowhere, he pulled her and smashed their lips together.

She was so caught off guard that she lost her balance.

Sasuke's strong arms held her frozen in place. Tilted her head to the side and resumed harassing her soft lips.

The kiss was rough yet passionate at the same time.

She couldn't help but moan and open her mouth when he sensually licked her plump lower lips. Silently asking for entrance.

Their tongues battled each other for dominance.

As usual, Sasuke won. For Uchihas never lose.

He picked her up and carried her up to their room.

And the day dramatically switched from a regular day with Naruto annoying the heck out of them to a more exhausting yet blissful morning for the young Uchiha couple.

But, what could have possessed Sasuke to act like this?

Well, first he just got fed up with the commotion the two were creating, so he stood up to tell Naruto to fuck off but what he saw made him to totally lose his self-control.

Apparently, Naruto's face was just too close to Sakura's for his liking.

Plain and simple. Sasuke was just jealous.

And the rest was history.

To be continued…

* * *

AN: Review… Review… Review… Tell me what you guys think, ok. And I'll shower you with sugar cookies and vanilla ice cream. Well, maybe a faster update. Aight...


	2. Blood and Patience

* * *

"Conversation"

"_Thoughts_"

* * *

Chapter 2: Blood and Patience

Sasuke and Sakura spent the rest of the morning locked up in their apartment.

Well, almost locked up. Considering the fact that the front door was gradually falling back. The chakra that was currently binding the door to its hinges was slowly loosing its hold.

Sasuke must have been very busy with whatever he was doing with Sakura.

The loud banging behind the bedroom's door followed by her loud voice laced with pleasure-filled euphoria were enough evidence that he was extremely busy at the moment.

Even their neighbors were distracted by the not so innocent words radiating through the apartment's walls. And the door was not exactly helping out in soundproofing the apartment. Although, he might have infused some of his chakra to keep it in place, somehow the supposedly Uchiha genius forgot to seal up the hole created by Naruto.

So… The whole apartment complex was treated to a very special glimpse in the life of the utterly stoic and emotionless Sasuke Uchiha.

Later that day, the Uchiha couple was yet again disturbed by someone. Although, this time around it was for something important.

Outside the almost dismantled front door was a 12 year old girl.

The young genin was blushing furiously. Guess, she was also given a special treatment. Although, she should be grateful. After all, she was at the front seat of the best movie ever created. And it was a live-action too.

She was contemplating on how was she supposed to deliver her message. Interrupt them or leave them be. Hhhmmm…

Curiously, she leaned against the door and stood on her toes to "investigate" some more.

Unfortunately, the door ultimately gave up and plunged forward. The girl lost her balance and fell down as well.

CRASH…

Followed by a high-pitched shriek…

The loud sound alerted the Uchiha couple who was currently in the bathroom.

Sasuke rushed out towards the front door.

When the dust finally settled, he raised his eyebrow at what he saw.

Amongst the file of crumpled mess was the little girl.

"Owwwiieee…" She was trying so hard to keep her tears at bay.

"Ehem…" Sasuke annoyingly stared at her.

She raised her head when she heard him cleared his throat.

Bad idea. The girl almost fainted at the sight of a wet and succulent Uchiha.

He was almost naked. Standing in front of her, armed cross over his chest, in nothing but a small towel across his waist.

This 6'3'' tall man who could easily turn a naïve girl to a hot temptress with his sinful body was looking down at her.

To her, Sasuke's body screamed "MAIN COURSE!"

His glistening body was covered with soap suds. Apparently, he was in the middle of a relaxing bubble bath with his fiancé.

The girl slowly eyed him, in very slow motion mind you, from his foot, to his sculpted 8-pack abs, broad chest, and finally his handsome face.

If this was a blessing in disguise or a sign of miracle, the girl couldn't care less for she could die right then and there. And it wouldn't matter because she had just seen one of the best body in the whole universe. A body seemingly built for pleasure and promised a hot, wild, and erotic sexual satisfaction.

"Close your mouth and wipe that drool" Sasuke voice snapped her out of her dreamland.

Totally embarrassed, she wipe the corner of her mouth and hurriedly stood up.

"Sasuke-kun, is everything alright." His fiancé's worried voiced echoed from across the bedroom door.

Sakura came out of their bedroom dressed in one of his black shirts and pink short shorts.

She side-stepped Sasuke and inspected the area. She looked at the little girl and upon closer inspection Sakura saw drops of blood on the little girl's white shirt.

She quickly rushed to the girl's side and dragged her towards the living room, at the same time, ordering Sasuke to get her first-aid kit.

"Hn."

Great… The incident would surely get out in public no later than this afternoon. Konoha's citizen was so obsessed with his life. At this rate, he probably would need to strategically plan an escape route in every street of Konoha AGAIN, just to escape his mentally unstable fangirls. (Ey, no offense to Sasuke's fangirls. I'm one of 'em too. Wink. Wink. … ) Also, he would never hear the end of it from Naruto.

He gloomily sighed.

Sasuke being his usual self was about to ignore her orders and just continue his bubble bath. But he decided against it. He would never admit it out in the open that the Great and Almighty Sasuke Uchiha was intimidated by one sweet and charming Sakura Haruno.

"_Che! Intimidated? Hardly! And she is far from being sweet and charming. Annoying." _His thoughts were cut off by Sakura telling him to hurry his slow-ass up.

Grunting, he walked to the bathroom and quickly showered.

Within five minutes, he emerged out of his hot shower, got dressed, and checked the medicine cabinet for her first-aid kit.

He don't understand why she would need it when she could just use her healing jutsu to fix the girl.

Meanwhile, in the living room…

Sakura was fussing over the young girl.

"Now, lemme see your face." Sakura carefully grasped her face and closely examined for any damage created by the fall.

The girl couldn't help but stare at Sakura. She was mesmerized by her beauty and gentleness. Long strands of her waist-length hair was coming out of Sakura's loose bun and was cascading down her face. Flawless skin, pink lips, and dazzling emerald eyes.

The girl was wondering how someone could look so beautiful without even trying. And this woman just came out of the shower. She was simply glowing under the radiant sun. Or in their case, under the florescent light. She could probably command thousands of men to abide by her wishes just because of her natural beauty.

Sakura held on to the girl's face and gently shook her.

"Hey, Are you ok? I just asked you what's your name?" Sakura was smiling at her.

"Umm, Ka… Kana. I'm Kana."

"Well, Kana-chan, it looks like nothing's wrong with you. You look perfectly fine to me. And it seems like the blood on your shirt was not from any cut." Sakura mischievously smiled knowing well enough where the blood was really from.

It seems like Sasuke's body was too much for little Kana.

Sakura couldn't blame her. After all, she, herself, used to experience sporadic nosebleeds whenever Sasuke would take off his shirt.

Kana faced a smirking Sakura.

She just wished that the floor would open, swallow her up, and pull her away from this awfully embarrassing situation.

"You little perv. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Sakura winked at the furiously blushing girl.

And that's how Sasuke found them.

He casually walked to the sofa and handed Sakura her first-aid kit.

"Oh no, Sasuke-kun, I don't need it anymore. But, thanks though."

She grinned sheepishly at his annoyed face.

He instantly glared at her.

"You could've told me you don't need it anymore." He darkly stated. Sasuke was emitting a very disturbing aura coupled with suffering and destruction. A dreadfully ominous feeling. But, as usual, she was unaffected by his silent threats. And she just continued smiling like crazy.

"Well, I was busy checking up on Kana-chan that I kinda uummm forgot?"

His gaze turned to the girl who was sitting beside Sakura. He immediately noticed how jumpy she was getting.

The said girl was looking down. Clearly trying to avoid looking at him.

Poor girl thought Sasuke was still naked. She was afraid that she might not make it through the second time she sees him without clothes. Please, no more repeat for this girl. She thought that his body would somehow constrict her major arteries thus resulting to a heart attack. A seemingly strange cause of death. Such a devastating reason for her to experience at a very young age. The girl sweatdropped.

"You! What do you want?" He darkly questioned her. Typical Sasuke attitude.

Kana jerked up and looked straight at him.

"Ummmm… I… Ummm… Yeah…"

At the moment, Sasuke would prefer Hinata's stuttering for this girl was majorly stumbling over her own words.

"Sasuke-kun! Stop it. You're scaring her!…" Sakura stood up and pushed Sasuke away from the shaking girl.

"Hn. Whatever."

"Sorry, Kana-chan. But seriously, you must have something important to tell us, right?" Sakura gently looked at her.

Kana swallowed her nervousness before speaking.

"Umm, Yes, Haruno-san. Ummm… Hokage-sama wants Uchiha-san to report to her to discuss an unclear statement in his mission report."

"Hn." And just like that, he turned around and walked out of the living room.

"Sasuke-kun, wait!" Sakura rushed to catch up with him.

"What now?" He snapped at her.

Sasuke's patience reservoir for the day was critically drained due to Naruto's antics earlier that morning.

Sakura cutely pouted at him.

"You forgot something."

"Hn." Sasuke exasperatedly sighed.

He leaned forward and gave her a chaste kiss.

They quickly ended the kiss before it leads to something else. That wouldn't be good especially since Kana was still sitting in the living room. Sakura wouldn't want to scare the little girl. She had enough Sasuke-goodness in one day.

"I love you." Sakura said sweetly while caressing his face.

"I know."

She knew that he was still having a hard time saying those three words. Especially in front of other people. Not that he hasn't said it before. In fact, he already told her a couple of times. Its just that Sasuke was not really used to vocally expressing his feelings. The Uchiha strongly believed that actions speak louder that words. So, he doesn't feel the need to tell her every moment. He was more of a doer anyway. And that was another impressive trait he possessed. Besides, he was well-known for his irrational actions not his words. And Sakura was content with him.

With that final word, he was about to walk out of his apartment when a thought struck him.

Fangirls.

Sasuke changed his mind, performed the necessary hand signs, and poofed out of the apartment.

Wimp.

Sakura shook her head at how silly he looked before he disappeared.

It seemed like he was shivering. His face was graced with horror like he just saw a ghost or something.

She was startled when Kana popped out of nowhere next to her.

"Ano… Haruno-san, Thank you for your hospitality. I should get going now." She bowed down and smiled at Sakura.

"No worries. I'll see you around Kana-chan." Sakura waved at Kana's retreating form.

"Well Sakura, you're all alone now. Time to get back to that bubble bath. Then maybe hang out with Ino-pig and the girls. Eat tons of ice cream. Chillax and be lazy all day long" Planned an overly excited Sakura. It was her day off anyways. She would do as she please.

She was ready to face the bright and joyful day. Life was just too damn good. That was, until she turned around and surveyed her apartment.

Her face crunched up and suddenly her optimistic attitude flew out the window.

The apartment was a disaster.

Pieces of her one of a kind, hand-made porcelain flower vase given to her by Gaara were scattered across the hallway. Gaara had it especially made for her 20th birthday two months ago. She couldn't bring it back to Konoha with her because she was currently on a mission. And she just received it from the mail a few days ago. It was useless now. She started whimpering. Then, she just began wailing like a little girl who lost her balloon.

The door must've have knocked it off when it crashed to the floor.

She gazed dejectedly at what was left of her front door.

Her door. Two words. Kill Naruto. It was beyond repair now.

She continued examining her surroundings.

Her kitchen. Damn. No words could probably describe its current state.

Again. Kill Naruto. And maybe punish Sasuke by depriving him of his current addiction.

SEX.

Obviously, she forgot the chaos created by the two dimwits.

At the moment, she really wanted to scream and cry her heart out. She couldn't believe she had to clean everything up. BY HERSELF.

"_Woah… That was some food fight huh?" _

Ok, she was not totally alone.

**"**_**Not you again!"** _

Sakura started banging her head against the kitchen wall in hopes that somehow it could injure her inner self.

"Why? Why is this happening to me? Did I offend the Gods or something? Was I such a bad person in my past life? Cuz I'm 100 percent sure that I am the nicest person in this lifetime. Well, except to Naruto. BUT, he doesn't count! ARRRGGGHHH!!…" She dramatically exclaimed.

"_Awww… Don't worry I'll try to feel and look sorry for you… Tehehehe…" _Inner Sakura was having the time of her life. This morning was getting better and better by the minute. At least for her.

**"**_**NOOO!!"** _Sakura cried out in vain.

"_You are such a drama queen! And would you freaking stop banging your head against the wall… In case you forgot, your wedding is in two days, Dumbass! You don't want Sasuke backing out now, do you?" _

As if she got shocked by Sasuke's chidori, Sakura jolted straight up and ran towards the closest mirror. She started inspecting the damage she inflicted upon herself. Good thing she had such a wide and strong forehead for it endured the impact pretty well. Not even a scratch or a bruise present.

With renewed enthusiasm, she vigorously commenced her mission objective: Operation Squeaky Clean…

To be continued…

* * *

AN: For those who reviewed, this one is for you guys. AND if the reviews reach up to at least 15 to 20 reviews, then I probably would consider updating one chapter per day. So… More Reviews More Chapters… Jaa… Happy reading…


	3. Inside an Uchiha's Heart

* * *

AN:

Spoilers… Read at your own risk… Enough said…

* * *

Chapter 3: Inside an Uchiha's heart

POOF…

Knock. Knock.

"Hokage-sama, Captain Uchiha is here." One of the Anbu guards opened the door to Tsunade's office.

"Alright. Send him in." Tsunade's booming voice was heard from across the room.

The guard closed the door once Sasuke stepped inside.

He continued inside, leaned on the nearest wall next to Tsunade's table, and waited for her to acknowledge his presence.

The Hokage seemed pretty busy.

He couldn't even see her form behind files upon files of paperworks on her desk.

"Shizune make sure my apprentice gets the package." She stood up from behind her desk and handed Shizune a big box. He curiously eyed the package.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Shizune bowed down to her, greeted him momentarily, and exited the office.

He looked back at the Hokage. She was cleaning up her desk. Well, if furiously tossing the papers to the floor was called cleaning.

She sat back on her leather chair, leaned on her hands, and pointedly glared at him.

"So, Uchiha. You got some major explaining to do. And you better tell the whole truth." She hissed at him.

"I have nothing to explain to you." He replied back. Obsidian eyes blankly stared at her.

"Don't test my temper Uchiha!. You should know by now where you fiancée learned her skills. So start talking." She banged her hands on her desk.

Sasuke's attention was diverted to the sake bottle that was about to tip over the table's edge. He snapped his eyes back to her when he heard her snarled at his direction.

He tried a nice approach.

"With due respect Hokage-sama. What I have done is none of your business." He sarcastically replied to her. He has no time for this. The wedding would be held in two days. And he has a lot of loose ends to tie up.

"You got some nerve! I could easily send you to prison for treason, Uchiha!." Anger was etched upon her wrinkle-free face.

"I did no such thing!" He pushed himself off of the wall and snapped at her.

She ignored him and grabbed her sake bottle. She chugged down its contents. So much for being the Lady Hokage.

"Ahhh! That was some good sake." She placed the sake bottle down and continued, "Fine, then you have ten seconds to explain why you deliberately disobeyed my orders, left your mission objective to your genin squad, and went straight to the Akatsuki's main base." She replied coolly. Sake sure calmed her nerves.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was not born to lead a genin squad in a mission he deemed unworthy of his skills. Their mission objective was to escort an old lady back to the nearby village across the border. The mission was more like babysitting short-tempered and mischievous brats. The Hokage thought that it would be a good practice for he would surely want little Uchiha children right after the wedding.

Although he did make sure that they would safely get to their destination, its just that he didn't think that it would be necessary to accompany his team back to the village. They know their way home. So, he just told them to scatter and went on his own way. Once he got to the base, he went in search for his old room. The base was not even recognizable under the destruction created by the war between the Akatsuki and Konoha. He had to dig up his way under the debris just to get to his room. Apparently, he was not paying attention when one of the beams holding the walls gave out and fell on top of him. And that's how he got injured and was later found by the Anbu squad.

"Your so-called Akatsuki's main base is no more. One of Konoha's Anbu squad is now stationed there. I don't see why so you're worried." He looked at her direction. Eyes filled with boredom.

"You really are testing my patience Uchiha!" She yelled again and banged her fist on the table. This time though, the impact cracked the table.

"Fine. I went there to fetch something that belongs to me."

"And?" She urged him to continue.

"And… End of story."

Her patience was running out.

"What could be so important that you had to go there by yourself?" She exhaustedly leaned back against her chair.

"It is none of your business."

Sasuke's sarcastic replies were starting to drive her crazy. A little more and she would totally snap. Forget her apprentice. She would break his face before the wedding.

"If its one of Madara's or Orochimaru's forbidden scrolls, you better hand it to me." She held her hand out. Expecting him to give her the scrolls.

"I've surrendered every scrolls to you. Both given to me and the ones we found in their hideouts." He was starting to loose his patience. He had been loyal to Konoha ever since he came back. To him, three years of strictly abiding by her orders were enough to prove his loyalty. So what was wrong with her?…

"So what is it?" She tried to squeeze some more information out of him.

But it was no use. Sasuke would not simply break under her intense scrutiny.

"Why are you so nosy?" He gruffly replied, not even scared of what she could do to him.

"Because I am the HOKAGE!! THAT'S WHY!…" She stood up and angrily grabbed his shirt. Tsunade was not in the mood to play guessing games with anyone. Especially not with one sarcastic Uchiha brat.

He sighed dejectedly. It's no use. He had to tell her before she creates a scene. Although, telling her might alter his plans. So instead, he just gave her a little bit of information regarding his plans.

"You will see it on the wedding. Can I leave now?" He turned to leave but was cut off when she grabbed his arms.

"The wedding?" She was terribly curious now.

What was he planning to do? What was so special about that object that he could not tell exactly what it was?

Finally giving up.

"Yes, you may leave. And I better see that object you're talking about or else." She let out a defeated sigh and released him. It was pointless. The Uchiha was one tough kid to break. She had no idea how her apprentice did it.

"Hn." He just calmly walked out of her office.

"AND DON'T 'HN' ME, YOU UNGRATEFUL CHILD!" She threw the empty sake bottle at the closed door.

"These crazy brats are gonna be the death of me… I look so much older now. Insolent punk givin' me wrinkles. Oh, I need a drink. Sake. Sake. Sake." She went to her hidden cabinet for more sake. And her conversation with him was long forgotten.

* * *

The villagers were not so surprised to see a brooding Uchiha walking out of the Hokage Tower.

He intended to go straight to his apartment and spend the rest of the day with Sakura.

He looked around and saw that the villagers were gossiping and giving him weird looks.

One icy glare.

The streets cleared.

Tumble weeds were rolling down the empty streets.

Awkward silence.

And he just continued casually walking to his destination.

Point taken. Uchiha could freeze time with one glare.

* * *

On his way home, he bumped into Naruto at Ichiraku ramen. As usual, he dragged Sasuke inside to have some ramen.

He barely listened to whatever Naruto was saying. Sasuke couldn't even understand it in the first place since Naruto was talking and eating at the same time. He couldn't pay attention anyway because he was trying not to get hit by the projectiles coming out of Naruto's mouth.

Simply disgusting. How could this lunatic be his best friend? What's more, how could he treat him as his own brother?

Sasuke shook his head at him and was about to leave when Naruto sheepishly asked him for money. Apparently, when he checked froggy, his wallet, he has enough money to pay for only two bowls. And he just finished his tenth one.

"Why are you broke?!" He snapped at him.

Naruto should have a lot of money considering the fact that he's an Anbu captain and next in line to be Hokage. Their jobs not only gave them the reputation of being one of Konoha's elites but it also pays a hefty sum of money.

"I'm not broke. Its just froggy could only hold this much money." Naruto pouted and raised his hands in defense.

"Ok, I'll make you a deal teme. You pay for my lunch and I'll give you the upper hand once we're at the training grounds. Deal?" He stretched his hand out to seal the deal.

"Fine. We'll see who gives the upper hand." Sasuke paid for the meal and was again dragged by an overly enthusiastic Naruto.

* * *

To say the least, training with Naruto was fun. A good way to release pent up anger.

And now, he was dead tired. Naruto sure did put up a good fight.

Sasuke stared at his brand new front door.

Wondering how much this one costs them now. Naruto should really start paying for it every time he destroys their front door.

He unlocked the door and went inside. The apartment was too dark. Not even a single light was lit. Usually when he came home late, Sakura would at least leave the hallway lights on for him. He wondered if Sakura was still out with her friends. Last night, he vaguely remembered her saying that she was going to meet with Ino. But its already ten pm.

He easily maneuvered his way inside the apartment.

Darkness was not a problem for him. He lived most of his life in darkness after all.

After the devastating Uchiha massacre, the compound would always be covered by the dark. The darkness brought by the night somehow calmed his soul. The young Uchiha would lock himself inside his darkened room every night. He refused to turn the lights on for he was scared that he might see the horrible bloody images of his family, especially the horror-stricken face of his mother. Every time a light shined through the windows, he would see his mother's lifeless body. Her gentle face would be illuminated by the moonlight. Blood mixed with tears. That horrible night would always hunt him.

When he was still under Orochimaru, the candle was his only source of light. It would flicker endlessly attracting moths. The flame captivated these feeble-minded insects. He would watch as they perish under the burning heat. He was just like them. Attracted to the deceitful beauty of power. Get too close to it and you burn.

After that, he lost himself in the labyrinth of lies created by Madara and the Akatsuki. The truth behind Itachi's madness was finally revealed to him. A revelation blanketed by Madara's lies. Blinded by rage. His light was completely devoured by the darkness.

He was a lost soul in great need of guidance.

Fortunately, his family kept his light going.

His long-forgotten family.

Back home.

His true home.

Konoha.

He never completely lost his family.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura enlightened his path for him.

During a mission to hunt down the eight-tailed beast, he proved to himself that he got through all those years of pain and loneliness because of them. He was not all alone. A vision of team seven opened his eyes to the truth. Their bond was still intact. Strong as ever.

And no matter how hard he denied it, their bond was never truly broken.

* * *

He intended to go straight to his room, take a shower, and fall back into his soft mattress.

Sasuke was stopped by a faint sound coming from the living room.

He stealthy followed the sound.

Masked himself under the shadows.

Ready to strike down the enemy.

And that was how he found Sakura.

She was sprawled all over the sofa. She was lightly snoring and completely oblivious to the world around her. He shook his head at her. He marveled at how vulnerable she was at her current state. She could easily get attacked and she would never know what hit her.

He went down to his knees and watched as she peacefully slept.

The moonlight illuminated her beautiful face.

A nostalgic feeling swept through his soul.

Suddenly, her features were replaced by his mother's gentle face.

He closed his eyes and shook his head to disperse the image out of his mind.

Shivers ran down his spine. He looked at her again.

He shouldn't be scared. Sakura was his light now. She enlightened his soul. The inner turmoil he used to feel was now replaced by tranquility.

As much as he would like to deny the truth, she was his strength.

His sole purpose in living.

His life.

Sasuke brushed away a strand of pink hair that was on her face.

His eyes were clouded with various emotions. Sorrow. Anger. Pain. Happiness. Trust. Love.

He leaned forward and lightly pecked her lips.

One single kiss. Yet so much emotions were expressed. This was one of the rare moments when Sasuke would let his guard down.

When he would show his true feelings.

His true self.

And she just missed it.

He chuckled when he heard her moaned his name. Even in her dreams, he was still with her.

He gently picked up Sakura and carried her to their bedroom.

Once he was sure that she was comfortable under the blanket, he left her to take a shower.

After a few minutes, he emerged out of the bathroom in nothing but his boxers. Pulled the blanket and slid next to Sakura.

She was startled and woke up when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist. She was about to scream when Sasuke abruptly covered his mouth.

"It's me." He huskily whispered in her ears, sending shivers down her spine. He uncovered her mouth.

"Mou, Sasuke-kun, what time is it?" She rubbed her eyes and turned to her side to check the time.

"It's pass 11. Sleep. You look exhausted." He gently tugged her back towards his chest.

"I must've dozed off after cleaning. Did you eat yet? I'll prepare something for you." She gently pushed him away and was about to get up when he shook his head.

"Hn… I'm fine. Just go back to sleep." He pulled her closer and nuzzled her neck.

"Hhmmm… ok…" She yawned and snuggled closer to him.

She turned her head and gave him a kiss.

"Goodnight, Sasuke-kun…" Sakura genuinely smiled at him and slowly closed her eyes.

Sasuke looked down at the sleeping cherry blossom in his arms. For some reason, she fits perfectly. It was like she was made just for him.

He tightened his hold on her.

"Hn… Goodnight… Koishii…" He silently whispered.

And the young Uchiha couple drifted into a peaceful slumber.

To be continued…

* * *

An:

Acknowledgement: Quote

"Get close to it and you burn." -Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist

Koishii- beloved.

There you have it Chapter 3.

A little insight on Sasuke's feelings.

A little less comedy and some SasuSaku fluffy moments.

I know the story is going a little bit slow. I just wanna start with less drama. Don't wanna shock you with too much drama. So no worries. The next chapters will be packed with… SURPRISES… So just keep reading and enjoy…

Review… Review… Review…

* * *


	4. Time After Time

* * *

Chapter 4: Time After Time

The morning sun brought a brand new day for Sakura. She just had a pleasant breakfast with her soon-to-be husband.

Suddenly, she was just giggling furiously.

"I can't believe I'm getting married to none other than Sasuke Uchiha. I guess dreams really do come true." She was getting giddier by the minute.

Sasuke left abruptly after breakfast. She couldn't even remember what he said for he was such in a hurry. He just stood up, went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, kissed her, and left. Just like that.

* * *

After she washed the dishes, she decided to tidy up their bedroom. Sasuke's room was the only part in his apartment that she didn't completely changed. The decoration of his room reflected his personality and she wanted to leave it just the way it was. The only furniture in his room was his nightstand, a king sized bed, a closet, and a single drawer by the corner. It also has a huge bathroom connected to his bedroom. The bed was covered with black silk bed sheets. A huge Uchiha fan was decorated in the middle of the comforter. She tidied up the bed, gathered their dirty clothes, and proceeded to the laundry room.

While she was waiting for the laundry to be done, she went to her bookshelf filled with medical texts and scrolls and pulled out a heart-shaped box. She carried it to the living room and placed it upon the table.

_"Better get that vanilla ice cream."_ She walked towards the kitchen, pulled out a gigantic bucket of vanilla ice cream, grabbed a spoon, and headed back to the living room.

It was going be one long memory trail for her. She would need additional energy once she's done with all that smiling, frowning, giggling, and crying.

She found a comfortable spot in the sofa and place her ice cream next to her. Then, she took the box and opened it. Inside was some of her most treasured items. Her scrapbook, digital camera, and a bunch of memorabilia.

She carefully pulled out her pink scrapbook. Its front cover was meticulously designed with an elegant painting of Kohona surrounded by cherry blossom trees. It was a gift from Sai four years ago. The artwork was hand-painted by him. On the bottom of the painting, his talented hands calligraphically expressed her life story in golden kanji characters, Eien. Time was simply frozen in eternity.

Sai sure did captured exactly what Konoha meant to her.

Her home.

Life that was filled with tears, laughter, and love. One could say that the book was a memoir of her life.

She delicately brushed away the dust that was marring its edges.

_"A lot has really happened since our academy days."_ She serenely smiled as she opened it and began her journey back in time.

She gazed at the first picture of team seven.

She giggled at how strange their team was. The combination of a bipolar girl, a cold-emotionless prodigy, a reckless boy, and one perverted adult working together as a team was truly one of a kind. It sure was a recipe for disaster.

Sasuke's scowling face, Naruto's forceful smile, and Kakashi had this mischievous glint which sparkled in his visible eye brought back both sad and fond memories.

She remembered how her advances would always be ignored by her beloved Uchiha. How Sasuke would constantly push her away. How she would frequently beat up Naruto for every mishaps that somehow their group always had to through before the end of the day. How Kakashi would continuously bury his nose up one of his perverted books and somehow perfected the art of tardiness.

The next picture was of Naruto giving her a piggy back ride.

He had the biggest smile while she was waving frantically at the camera.

Their eyes filled with utter joy.

It was taken months after Sasuke left and before Naruto went on with his training with Jiraiya.

_At that time, she started working at the hospital and just began her tedious training with Tsunade. She was working herself to death in hopes that somehow it would fill the void in her heart. She terribly missed Sasuke and now Naruto was also going to leave her. She constantly worked for once she stopped doing anything, she felt completely alone. She felt that she was nothing but an empty shell without the two most important men in her life. In reality, she was just exhausted. She was physically, emotionally and mentally worn out. So the day before Naruto's departure, he dragged her out of the hospital and treated her to a nice dinner other than ramen at Ichiraku's._

Her eyes started misting up. She lightly caressed the picture. She clearly remembered their promise…

"_Sakura-chan, you have nothing to be worried about. No matter where I am, I'll always have a special place in my heart just for you." He gently smiled at her and continued, "And you better have one for me too!… So come here imouto-chan, I know exactly what you need right now…" Naruto picked her up, threw her over his shoulders, and ran madly out to the streets of Konoha. _

_She pounded his head and told him to put her down. He ignored her and wildly twirled around. T__heir laughter was so pure like they had no problems whatsoever. _

_He placed her down gently while she pulled out her camera. She wanted to capture this moment for she never knew when she would see him again. They took a bunch of pictures and one old lady offered to take a picture for them. Sakura told him to bend down and she clumsily hopped on his back. The old lady shook her head at their antics although she was also smiling at how silly they look._

Those were the good times.

It was like the calm before the storm for her and Naruto. She thought how cliché that was. But, that statement precisely conveyed what happened to their lives.

Now that it was all over, she felt the urge to search for Naruto and hug him until he can't breathe anymore.

She didn't even notice that she was crying. Suddenly, she felt something soaking her shorts. She looked down at the bucket of her melting ice cream. She almost forgot her ice cream. She gently wiped away her tears, grabbed her spoon, and scooped some of the melted ice cream to her mouth. Ice cream was really a good remedy for this one very emotional girl.

She turned to the next pages and smiled at many random pictures of her friends. One taken by Tenten showed Sakura and Ino on a chocolate eating duel.

Another one with the girls; Ino, Hinata, Tenten, Temari, and herself. This picture was quite hilarious for no one thought that she could pull off a slumber party with both Ino and Temari sleeping in the same room. The whole village knew how they notoriously competed for Shikamaru's attention. And up until now, the competition was still on. Although, she could tell that Shikamaru was leaning towards Ino since Temari was not around most of the time.

Another picture was an image of her and Sai under the cherry blossom tree. This was a stolen shot courtesy of Hinata.

She was leaning over Sai's shoulder trying to get a glimpse at his artwork. While Sai on the other hand was trying to shrug her off of him. She later found out that he was painting the front cover of her birthday present.

She learned a lot from Sai. And vice versa. It was Sai who taught her how to appreciate the beauty offered by the simple things around her. Her addiction to taking memorable photographs was mostly influenced by him. They taught each other how to conveniently express and hide their emotions at the same time. A very useful trait considering the circumstances brought by their responsibilities as ninjas.

At first, she thought he was only a good for nothing emotionless and two-faced traitor. She didn't even realize then that he eerily resembled one stoic ice-block.

How come she's surrounded by men who were exceptionally good at having bad personalities?…

"How ironic…" She shook her head and continued scanning through the rest of the pages.

Another one was a picture of Naruto and two of his clones pushing away Rock Lee who was holding out a bouquet of red roses to a giggling fifteen year old Sakura.

More pages were turned. Until the soft features of Sasuke's handsome face came into view.

She lovingly gazed at his picture. The photograph was another stolen shot and the story behind it was quite dramatic.

_It was a few days after Sasuke officially returned to the village. After the war, he was confined in the hospital because he suffered fatal injuries when he battled against Madara._

_At first, she stood firm and refused Naruto advice to see Sasuke. He would constantly pester the hell out of her stating that Sasuke groveled and begged him to ask Sakura to see him. _

_"Pssshhh… Yeah right…" She just raised one fine eyebrow at Naruto. _

_She refused to do such thing. She was, after all, still very much furious at what he did to her. _

_But, as usual, her heart still yearned for the young Uchiha. _

_So after she made sure no one was looking, she cleverly sneaked inside his hospital room and found him peacefully sleeping. She slowly walked to his bed and for some unknown reason, she was shaking tremendously and tears were running down her face. _

_It couldn't be helped. She terribly missed him. One undeniable fact: she still loves him. _

_She leaned forward and caressed his face with so much gentleness for she was afraid that he just might disappear. She was probably staring at him for twenty minutes, contemplating on whether to kiss him and take his breath away or choke him just so she could avenge all the pain and suffering that she went through for the past five years. _

_But her heart greatly opposed the latter. So, she settled in stealing a single kiss from him. He wouldn't know anyways. _

_"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun…" She whispered silently and before she went out, she took a single picture just to remind her and reinforce the reality that he was finally back. _

The next pages depicted more pictures of their group. The only difference this time, Sasuke was now included in all of it.

Alongside was his other team. Team Snake, Falcon, Eagle, Emo, Villain, whatever they called themselves…

There were pictures of her with Suigetsu and Juugo.

It was no surprise that she got along with those two. For one, Suigetsu liked beautiful girls and Sakura was in his list of hot girls. He shamelessly flirted with her whenever he got the chance.

In contrast to Suigetsu rowdy character was Juugo's quiet nature. However, it didn't take long for Sakura to befriend him since she was assigned to find a cure for his raging nerves and uncontrollable bloodlust. She found out that he was like a little child trapped in overly large body. Juugo was surprised that she was not entirely afraid of what he could to do her. He also felt comforted by the air of calmness that somehow radiated from Sakura.

On the other hand, Karin was a big challenge for her. Karin defiantly stated that she refused to mingle with a girly-girl like Sakura. Up until now, she was still bitter when Sasuke chose Sakura over her. And Sakura had a feeling that Karin would never give up in wooing Sasuke.

More random pictures of Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Kakashi, Iruka, and the Rookie nine.

She suddenly stopped at the picture of her family. Her father, mother, and a sixteen year old Sakura was smiling at the camera.

Her breathe hitched.

Tears started to fall uncontrollably.

She closed her eyes tightly. She might looked strong in front of many but in reality she was still mourning the untimely death of her parents. She loss them during the war.

_They were stationed to man a border to the south of the village. Unfortunately it was the first area that was attacked by the Akatsuki commanded by Pain. She was busy helping out citizens and other ninjas that she failed to notice that the south border was completely wiped out. When she found out, she blamed herself, promised that she would avenge them, and set out for Pain's blood. Fortunately, Naruto arrived just in time to stop her and intervene between what was deemed to be the turning point of a disastrous battle._

The war did take a lot from her.

She opened her eyes and looked at the picture.

Her tears were continuously falling. She clutched the picture to her chest.

She missed them so much. She just wished she got there in time to save them. She would never have survived the darkest hour of her life if it weren't for Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade. They stood by her side and reminded her that she hasn't completely lost her family. And now that Sasuke was by her side, the pain that was slowly eating her up was completely lifted by him.

"Mom, Dad… I know that you're watching over me… I love you… and I miss you so… so much…" She brought the picture close to her face and kissed it.

KNOCK… KNOCK…

Her moment was interrupted by someone at her front door. She closed the scrapbook and carefully placed it inside the box. She frantically wiped her tears away and walked hurriedly to the door.

She quickly opened the door and found Shizune holding a package.

"Ohayou. Umm… Is this a bad time?… Are you ok?" Shizune immediately noticed her swollen eyes and red face.

"No… I'm fine… Come in." She smiled at her and opened the door to let her in.

Sakura led her to the kitchen and prepared tea for them.

"Ummm… Are you sure you're ok?" Shizune took the tea offered by Sakura.

"Yeah… I'm just having one of my emotional moments…" She assured her with a bright smile.

"Wedding jitters?" She joked around trying to cheer Sakura up.

"Of course not!… Why would you think that?" She cutely pouted and took a sip of her tea.

"Well, maybe because by tomorrow you're gonna be known as Uchiha Sakura?" She winked at her and continued, "Speaking of your wedding, I have the package from Hokage-sama."

Sakura squealed like a little girl, rushed to her side, and tore the package open.

Inside was her wedding dress. She was amazed at how elegant it looked.

"I was supposed to give it to you yesterday, but as usual I got swamped with paperworks at the hospital."

Sakura looked back at her. "Thank you, Shizune-san."

"No worries, Sakura-chan. Well, I better get going. I still have a hospital to run."

She stood up to leave. Sakura followed her to the front door.

"Gomen ne… I should be helping you." She bowed her head, suddenly feeling guilty.

"Don't worry about it. I think we can survive without you for at least a few days." Shizune turned around and gently patted her shoulder. "Jaa… See you tomorrow…" She opened the door and waved back at her.

"Hai… See you tomorrow…"

Sakura closed the door behind her and went back to her dress.

She carried it up to the bedroom and hid it behind the closet. She didn't want Sasuke to see it yet. She wanted to surprise him on the day of their wedding. It was unfair that she was the only one freezing up because of his looks. It was payback time. She would leave him breathless once he sees her in her wedding dress.

"Mwuahahahahaha!!…" She laughed maniacally.

* * *

That night…

Sakura wondered what happened to Sasuke. She hasn't seen him since they had breakfast.

She was starting to worry. Not because of his safety, she very much knew that he could take care of himself, its just that she was slightly scared that he might have changed his mind about marrying her and ran away.

She was pacing across their bedroom.

"Arrrggghhh… Don't think like that Sakura… You know he wouldn't do that… Would he?…" She stopped and looked at the time. It was already eleven pm.

"Where is he?!…"

She was startled when Sasuke suddenly opened the door to their bedroom.

She froze and stared widely at him.

He just raised his eyebrow and was completely taken off guard when she jumped him.

Upon impact, he lost his balance and they tumbled to the floor.

"Sasuke-kun… 'Sniff'… Where… 'Sniff"… were… you?…" Sakura buried her face in his chest and started soaking his shirt with tears.

"Hn…" He was not at all surprise at how she acted. After all, he was gone the whole day. So, he decided all they need was one hot shower to calm her nerves.

He held Sakura's legs firmly against his waist, stood up, and went straight to the bathroom.

It was extremely hard maneuvering inside their large bathroom with Sakura still in his arms.

She just wouldn't let go of him even after he tried to reason with her.

He turned on the shower and went in the tub without taking off their clothes. The warm water coursed through their body and relieved their stress.

"Sakura… Look at me…" He nudged her head up.

Sakura raised her head up to look at him.

Sasuke gazed at her and couldn't help but be entranced by her soft red lips.

He leaned forward and hungrily kissed her awaiting lips.

He simply took her breathe away.

Her worries were quickly washed away.

She eagerly responded by opening her lips. His tongue fervently explored the inside of her mouth. Coaxed her tongue to play with his.

His hands didn't remain idle as it caressed every part of her smooth body.

Soon… Clothes were tossed to the side.

Passionate grunts and moans were heard from the couple.

As the bathroom was filled more steam, so as the intense heat coming from the couple…

* * *

After their heated shower, the couple settled comfortably in their bed.

Sasuke was hugging her from behind. It was getting colder as the summer slowly gave way to fall.

"Ne… Sasuke-kun… Are you nervous?" Sakura was curious. She wanted to know what he was feeling about the wedding.

"Hn?…" He tiredly mumbled behind her neck.

"For tomorrow… I mean, are lives are gonna be changed forever…" She turned around and stared at him. She was expecting a serious answer from him.

"Nothing would be changed, Sakura" He sighed and opened his eyes. He eyed her.

"But…" She pouted up at him.

He sighed.

"You worry too much… The wedding is just for formalities." He was about to go back into nuzzling her neck when her shrill voice made his ears ring.

"What the fuck?… You just wanna marry me for formalities?" She glared at him and punched his chest. Not too hard though. She didn't want to damage him before the wedding. She didn't want a crippled groom on the best day of her life.

"Hn… Annoying…" He sighed yet again. "You should know by now why I asked you to marry me."

His eyes looked different. It must be her imagination, but she swore she saw it momentarily flickered with life. His obsidian eyes were not so black and dull anymore. It was filled with raw emotions. Emotions where she was the only one entitled to see.

"Hhhhmmm… maybe you wanna refresh my memories…" She grinned, leaned closer to his face, placed her arms around his neck, and gently tugged him towards her lips.

"Hn…" He closed the gap between them.

It was just a simple kiss. Nothing new. But what made this was special was what Sasuke said afterwards.

He pulled back. Touched his forehead to hers. And in the softest voice he could muster... told her…

"I love you…" Another kiss.

"Now shut up and go to sleep…" He gruffly stated and went back to nuzzling her neck.

She giggled and snuggled next to him.

Tomorrow was sure going to be one hectic and interesting day…

To be continued…

* * *

AN:

Eien means Eternity.

So… Review… Review… Review…

I know the story and the summary don't match right now, but just be patient. I promise everything will be revealed later on… Stay tune for the upcoming chapters...

It's gonna be explosive... Better bring tissues with you... Hehehe… So enjoy…

* * *


	5. Our Eternity

* * *

Chapter 5: Our Eternity

"FOREHEAD!! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!!" Ino's earsplitting screech shook the foundations of the Hokage mansion.

Make-up in tow, she was frantically chasing after a half-naked Sakura all over their dressing room.

"Stay away from me, you crazy BITCH!!…" A red faced Sakura ducked behind a startled Hinata when Ino magically acquired a hairdryer and threw it straight to her face.

* * *

Earlier that day, Sakura woke up at the strange sound caused by two blonde bombshells. Not as in hot bombshells but literary 'BOMB' shells. Barbaric Onslaught of Misguided Blondes. For Naruto and Ino decided to "combine" their forces to help her and Sasuke prepare for the wedding ceremony. Not even a hurricane or tornado or even other forces of mother nature could probably stop those two.

Sakura had an ominous feeling the moment her eyes adjusted and saw the two. They were dangerously walking towards the bed while Naruto was holding a black sack and Ino had ropes thrown over her shoulders. Her mind screamed 'run away' but she dismissed the thought since it was just too early in the morning and her mind was still not working properly.

The troublesome twosomes were driven by sheer determination in fulfilling their mission objective; which Naruto stupidly dubbed as their "True calling and sole purpose in life."

Her eyes snapped open and widen considerably as Naruto and Ino jumped on them. She didn't even got the chance to at least say good morning to Sasuke for Ino ruthlessly tied her up and hauled her ass out of the apartment along with all her wedding things. She hazily wondered how the heck Ino knew where her things were, especially her wedding dress.

Sasuke suffered the worst. Before Ino could even tie Sakura up, Naruto jumped him and threw the sack on to his head, terribly obscuring his line of vision.

A surprised Sasuke kicked him but Naruto stood firm and tightly held the sack upon his head. They wrestled for a bit, until Sasuke wildly punched Naruto in the stomach. He lost his grip and fell backwards, holding on to his aching stomach.

He quickly took off the sack. Breathing heavily, Sasuke took him by the collar of his shirt and slammed Naruto against the wall.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He snarled at him. Eye blazed with uncontrolled anger.

"Oww… Teme! Lemme go!" Naruto choked out and tried to loosen Sasuke's tight grip on his neck. "Let… go… Teme… I can't… breathe!"

"You're one to talk!" He slightly loosened his grip and growled. "You just tried to suffocate me to death!"

Sasuke released him and waited as Naruto gasped for a much needed oxygen. Sweat was running down his face.

"Damn, Teme. You really are not a morning person, are you." Naruto wiped his forehead and leaned on the wall for support.

Sasuke sure was not a morning person. He only woke up early for missions or for something enormously important. Although there was one major exception. Like whenever he woke up to Sakura's playful gestures. He would totally consent to her method of a wake up call. In that case, he was an enthusiastic and willing participant in their 'sexcapades.'

But this…

This abomination…

Also known as Naruto.

He just basically took the concept of a wake up call to the extreme.

Arms crossed over his chest, Sasuke just pointedly glared at his best man. Naruto tried to justify his reasons.

"Anyway!… Before you go ballistic on me again. Ino and I are just here to help you guys out."

"If suffocating me and kidnapping my bride is your way of helping, then you can just shove it up your ass!" Sasuke yelled at him.

Naruto gawked at him and exclaimed, "Wow, I am truly amazed. That must've been the longest sentence that I have ever heard from you."

That was it. He had enough of Naruto's foolishness.

Sasuke dangerously took a step forward and swung his fist towards Naruto's grinning face.

"Holy shit!"

Duck.

"Hey wait!"

Block.

"Hear me out first!"

Sasuke stopped his fist millimeters away from Naruto's face.

"How the heck did you even get in here?"

"Ummm… Your landlord lend me a spare key. Anyways, back to the topic. I'm just here because you know how old people are so superstitious, especially the elders. And since Tsunade-baa-chan's age is like off the charts, she told me to separate you two before the wedding ceremony." Naruto quickly explained, looking back and forth between Sasuke's angry face and his dangerous fist.

"What?" He slowly let him go. He ran his hand through his messy hair in frustration.

"You know how love is blind?" Naruto pointed out.

"Dobe, you're not making any sense." Not that he always do make sense anyways.

"Teme, it's a superstition. Don't tell me a genius like you don't know?" Naruto was truly surprised that he has not heard of that famous superstition.

"Wait a minute. You don't really know that? Seriously?!" He wickedly grinned and held his hands over his heart. "Hold up, give me second to fully internalize and take in this victorious moment."

Sasuke barely paid attention to his supposedly moment of victory and overly dramatic speech. He furiously gritted his teeth in irritation.

"Ha! I know something that you don't!" He flamboyantly shouted and pointed a finger in Sasuke's direction.

"DOBE!!"

"Ok, fine. Party-pooper…" Naruto scratched his head trying to remember what he was trying to explain. "Well, you know how they say its bad to see the bride before the wedding?"

"Hn" Sasuke waited as patiently as he could for Naruto to continue.

"That superstition my friend is called love is blind." Naruto widely grinned and raised his nose up in the air feeling like he's the smartest guy in the world.

Sasuke just stared at him. Narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Something was seriously off with that sentence.

The sound of the clock ticking was the only thing that could be heard.

A moment passed.

Naruto still grinned like crazy.

Sasuke sweatdropped.

"You have got to be kidding me." His gruff voice broke through the silence.

"What??" Naruto asked him raising one fine eyebrow.

"And, why would you think that's the literal meaning of love is blind?" His eyes significantly hardened.

"Cause you know how you have to blind someone so they can't see their loved one. Not permanently blind you, of course." Naruto 'smartly' replied. "So, I just covered your eyes. Smart huh! Pure genius!"

Sasuke dumbly stared back at him.

Sasuke and dumb most of the time were not put together in a sentence for a reason. They were like oil and water. Sasuke and the word 'dumb' just don't mix well with each other.

But apparently this was a very special case.

Oh Shit… Konoha was truly doomed…

* * *

Hinata looked back and effort between her two friends in amusement.

"What the hell?… You should thanking me that I care enough to make you the prettiest bride out there!!" Ino exclaimed out loud.

"Prettiest? What the fuck?! Are you blind? I look like a clown!" Her emerald eyes hardened. She couldn't believe this was happening. On her wedding day nonetheless.

"Well, you're by far the prettiest clown I've seen. See." Ino snickered at her while holding up a mirror so she could justify her point. Sakura stared at her reflection.

"YOU ARE SO DEAD!!" She violently jumped on Ino just like how she jumped on her bed earlier that morning. The girls tumbled to the ground. Sakura on top choking her. Ino was already turning blue and frantically clawing on Sakura's hands.

"Girls… Girls… GIRLS!!…" Tsunade went over the two and hurled Sakura off of Ino. "Quit it! We have no time for this. The wedding starts at five. We only have two hours left. So please, stop fooling around!"

"But Shishou, do you see what I look like right now? Do you?! She made a canvass out of my face! I look like a ghost who has big time allergies! Arrrgghhh!! I'm gonna kill you, PIG!!…" She, yet again, tried to launch herself towards Ino's direction.

Hinata dashed to her side and tried to control the situation.

"Sakura-chan, I'm sure it can be wash away with water and soap." Hinata's soft voice attempted to soothe Sakura's raging nerves.

"I'm doomed!! DOOMED, I TELL YOU!… Sasuke-kun… 'sniff' wouldn't… 'sniff'… want me now…" Sakura's eyes started tearing up when she got the chance to look over her face again.

"Oh, PUH-LEASE… He didn't even want you in the first place…" Ino stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Look who's talking… Last time I checked, Sasuke-kun asked me to MARRY him. Not you… So in your face! POO POO HEAD!!…" To reinforce her point, she waved her hand in front of Ino's baffled face, showing off a diamond ring elegantly designed with the Uchiha clan symbol rested on her finger.

Their eyes connected and Hinata was sure she saw electricity sparked out from their furious glares. She wondered how these two maintained their close friendship.  
They were always competing and fighting against each other and yet they considered each other best friends.

Tsunade shook her head in frustration. She spent the majority of her time planning out a grand wedding for her apprentice.  
Sakura refused at first stating that she wanted a simple wedding with only their family and close friends. But Tsunade stated otherwise.  
Sakura was like a daughter to her and she would make sure that she gets the special treatment.

Besides, she was just not getting married to an ordinary guy. For heaven's sakes, she was getting married to THE Sasuke Uchiha. So, Tsunade took up the responsibility to invite all the Kages of neighboring countries, allies, and important lords and ladies. Personally, she couldn't care less if they were invited or not. But the matter of fact was that this wedding was not solely for the bonding of two people. This wedding also served for political purposes. These people, not including their allies, hungered for the protection by Konoha, especially protection provided by either a member of the Hyuuga Clan or the infamous Uchiha Clan. They were more likely to get offended if none of them were invited or acknowledged in this important event.

She sighed in annoyance. They were ruining her plans.

"YOU TWO, SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" Tsunade's patience was really running out. She separated the two before they could destroy her place.

She took a few minutes before continuing, "Now, we're going to be civilize ladies and get this over with. Or ELSE!" Her heated glare promised pain for the two.

And the rest of the preparation went smoothly.

* * *

An hour before the wedding...

Sasuke rushed out of his crowded apartment. All the rookie nine boys, along with team Gai, and their senseis decided that it would be a good idea  
and easier on their part to dress up in his apartment.

Naruto was currently fixing his haori in front of a mirror when he noticed that Sasuke was leaving.

"Hey teme where you going?!" He shouted from across the room getting everyone's attention focused on Sasuke.

"Somewhere away from you idiots." Frown apparent on his handsome face. Naruto clumsily walked towards him with loads of witty comebacks.

"Well, you can't cuz your getting married in an hour. Don't tell me your getting cold feet?" He snickered and placed an arm over Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke tried to shrug off his arms but Naruto was persistent in pestering the heck out of him today.

"Aww, Sasuke-kun's getting cold feet." Iruka teased him trying to copy Sakura's voice.

Laugher echoed throughout the apartment.

"You know, you should loosen up Sasuke. It's a wedding not an execution." Kakashi's voice muffled by the cloth covering half of his face cut through their conversation.

"Why does everyone think of the most stupid things?" He wildly exclaimed and directed his icy glare towards his sensei.

Sighing, Kakashi placed down his orange book and stared back at him.

"Well, maybe because of that frown on your brooding face?" Kakashi cleverly replied.

"Kakashi is right, Uchiha. The youthfulness of this grand day must be projected in your face as well." Gai energetically stood up and along with Rock Lee, pumped up their fists, danced, and sang to their youthful song. Although upon close inspection, Rock Lee's eyes were shimmering with unshed tears.  
He couldn't believe that his youthful blossom was now totally out of his reach and for that he decided that he would run a marathon every week  
from Konoha to the village hidden in the Sand for the rest of his life.

Sasuke ignored them, shook off Naruto's arms, and proceeded to the door. He couldn't handle their antics anymore. If he spent more time with these idiots,  
he was sure that he would go crazy.

"Hey, I told you, you can't go!" Naruto slammed the door shut, almost pinning Sasuke between it.

"Dobe, get out of the way." Sasuke shoved him away from the door.

"Why? And where the hell are you going anyways?" Naruto vigorously pushed him back to the living room.

"That is none of your business." Sasuke boredly stated

"Well, it is so my business. I am your best man after all." Naruto stated as a matter-of-factly, held onto him, extremely determined to keep his best friend inside the apartment.

"Which is a terrible decision that I extremely regret." Sasuke rubbed his temples, he could feel a headache coming already. He had too much of Naruto's insanity in just one day.

"What?! Fine. I'm not picking you as my best man for my wedding." Naruto glowered at him.

"Like that will ever happen." Sasuke smirked at him as he leaned to the nearest wall. "You aint got the balls to even ask Hinata to marry you."

"As much I hate to admit it. The Uchiha has a point. Seems like you're the one who has cold feet here." Neji snickered and backed up Sasuke's theory.

"HEY! Why is everyone ganging up on me?!" Naruto glared at them.

Then his eyes widen in disbelief. Sasuke and Neji just made a joke. A joke for crying out loud. These two were the most antisocial guys he had ever known and to top that, he certainly doubted their ability to make a joke. They were born without any funny bones. And suddenly now there were capable of being funny. It was either they were high on crack or dead ass drunk OR the world must be coming to an end. There was just no way the Hyuuga would take side with an Uchiha. NEVER…

Before his brain went on over load because of the two, his train of thoughts were abruptly cut off by Sai's deadpanned reply and fake smile. "Because we just can, Dickless."

"You bastards! Once I'm Hokage I'll make sure you guys suffer with petty and insignificant missions. Like… Like scrubbing my feet everyday. HA! See, how it would surely deflate your enormous egos. Hmmmphhh." He stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and silently mumbled more outrageous threats.

Sasuke miserably sighed in dismay. Next time he gets married or a special event, he would make sure that Naruto would not be invited.

He turned around to leave but as predicted, Naruto jumped in front of him. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Dobe, if you really must know, I'm going to see Sakura." Sasuke glared annoyingly at him.

"WHAT?! That is a No-No! I told you before." Naruto harshly yanked on his arm.

"And I could care less." Sasuke turned around, shrugged off Naruto's grip, and snapped at him.

"You have to take this seriously teme. You wouldn't want to ruin your wedding do you? Cuz I know Sakura would kill us if anything goes wrong." Naruto worriedly looked at him.

He knew that Sakura would go berserk on them. She would torture them first before finally ending their terribly short lives.

"Fine. Could you just bring this to her." Sasuke dejectedly sighed and handed him a box and a letter.

"What is it?" He curiously opened the box but Sasuke slammed the box close before he could fully opened it.

"I told you mind your own business."

"Ok. Ok. Calm down." He placed the box inside his haori and continued, "I'll see you later then, Jaa." Naruto closed the door behind him and headed straight to the Hokage mansion.

* * *

Knock. Knock.

"Hokage-sama, someone is here to see Haruno-san." One of the anbu guards notified Tsunade who was currently fixing her hair.

"For what?"

"He said he has an important package for the lady." The anbu removed his mask and informed her.

"Very well, search him first before letting him in. Then accompany him to the dressing room." Tsunade dismissed the anbu guard and went to the door connecting her room and the dressing room where the girls were fixing themselves.

"What is it shishou?" Sakura carefully stood up so that her wedding kimono would not be messed up.

A knock was heard followed by the voice of the anbu guard asking if it was safe to enter the dressing room.

Tsunade opened the door and was greeted by an old man.

"Good afternoon Hokage-sama, Lady Uchiha." The man bowed down in respect.

"What business do you have here?"

"Hokage-sama, I am the Uchiha clan's tailor. My family had worked for the Uchiha ever since the foundation of this village. I am here to deliver a wardrobe to the new Lady Uchiha." The man explained, walked to the Sakura, and handed the large package to her.

"Yesterday, Uchiha-sama had it altered for your wedding." The tailor clarified as Sakura carefully opened the package.  
Extremely stunned, Sakura pulled out an elegant white kimono.

_A day before the wedding, Sasuke went back to the Uchiha compound in search of his mother's wedding kimono. He remembered his mother telling him that the kimono was specially made for her wedding. He wanted Sakura to wear it to their wedding but she already had contracted someone to design and make her wedding dress, so he immediately dismissed the idea. _

_Until he heard Ino suggesting to Sakura that she needed another dress for the reception as customary in a traditional wedding. With that in mind, he went to search for the kimono the day after his mission. He found the kimono hanging inside a glass casing in his parent's bedroom. It was covered in dust since the compound was not yet thoroughly cleaned ever since he got back.  
He figured that it would only need to be dry-cleaned. _

_Since Sakura was in their apartment and he didn't want her to see the kimono, he stealthily sneaked into their bedroom through the window and quickly matched and compared it to one of Sakura's kimonos and found out that his mother's kimono was too big for her. He thought that his mother and Sakura would have the same height. Guess, his mother was talker that he remembered. Before she could find out that he was in their bedroom, he took his mother's kimono along with Sakura's and quietly exited through the window. _

_He brought the kimonos to their family dress maker and ordered the old man to make the necessary adjustments before the day ends. The old man told him that it could not be done since the kimono would need more time to intricately alter its length and fitting in accordance to Sakura's kimono. Also, the kimono was made from silk imported from one of the neighboring village. It would take days before a placed order could be delivered to the shop. Sasuke told him money was no problem for him. And as usual, Sasuke terrifying aura and chilling threats immediately changed the man's mind and accepted the challenge. Unfortunately for the old man, Uchihas always get want they want; whatever, wherever, and whenever they asked for it. _

"Oh my." Sakura gasped and held the kimono up for everyone to see. She touched the material of the kimono and marveled at its softness.

A complex embroidery of a silver dragon silhouette graced the front of the kimono.

"Uchiha-sama greatly wanted the kimono to be fixed, dry-cleaned, and delivered right before your wedding ceremony." The old man informed her.

Ino went closer to Sakura and examined the back of the kimono.

"Holy shit!" Sakura was startled by Ino's outburst and dropped the kimono. "Forehead, look at the back." She picked it up and turned the kimono for Sakura to have a closer look.

On the back of the kimono was another embroidery. This time though, it was an elaborate embroidery of the Uchiha clan symbol.  
The fan was made from a bright-dark red and silver threads outlined with golden threads.

"Is it just me or those threads look like they were made from actual gold and silver?" Ino astonishingly exclaimed. She knew that the Uchiha clan was rich but not THAT rich.

"Nah, it can't be." Sakura brought it up for closer inspection.

"Actually my lady, it is made from real gold and silver. The Uchihas were highly sophisticated clan and they would normally show it through their formal wardrobes."  
The tailor reached for the package and took out a matching obi.

"Are you serious?! Damn." Ino lowly whistled. "Sasuke sure is loaded."

Unexpectedly, Naruto barged inside and interrupted the girls.

"Naruto, don't you know how to knock?"

"Hey Tsunade-baa…" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Tsunade's eyes hardened. "I mean Tsunade-sama. Hehehe…"

"Trust me shishou, you wouldn't want him knocking on your door." Sakura quickly warned Tsunade.

Everyone in the room stared weirdly at her. "Don't ask." Sakura had experienced too much chaos between Naruto and doors.

Naruto looked behind Tsunade and the strange old man and found Sakura elegantly sitting on a chair.

He was completely taken off guard and had to do a double take before he realized that it was her. "Wow Sakura-chan. You look absolutely gorgeous."

"Arigatou." She placed the kimono back inside the box and questioned him. "Wait, what are you doing here anyways?"

"Oh yeah, Sasuke sent me to give this to you." Naruto walked towards her and handed a small box along with a letter. "I looked at the letter but its empty so I don't know if its any use."

Sakura took the box and letter. The moment she opened the letter, words started appearing on its surface.

_Sakura,_

_I hope you already received the kimono. _

_It was my mom's and I know she would want you to have it._

_After all, you'll be the Lady of the Uchiha Clan in a couple of hours._

_Wear it to the reception._

_She would be proud to see you in it._

_I know I am. _

_Also, inside this black box is a precious Uchiha heirloom. _

_Its been passed down through generations._

_It's customary for the women of our family wear it._

_And now it's your turn to wear it. _

_Sasuke_

Sakura was touched by his words. He even acknowledged, clearly, that she was now a part of his family. Sasuke sure was something else.

One moment he was cold as ice and the next he was showering her with love and gentleness. He could be really sweet whenever he wanted to.

Naruto was very confused as to why she would smile while reading a supposedly empty letter. He tried to get a glimpse and was violently pushed away by Ino and Tsunade.  
The two peeked over Sakura's shoulder, eyes anxiously scanned the letter.

He stumbled next to Hinata while she shyly helped him regain his balance. He was shocked to see her there for he wasn't aware that the girls also decided to dress up together.  
A wide smile appeared in his boyish face.

Hinata was startled when he pulled her against his chest and light kissed her lips. Hinata turned bright red when he lowered his lips to her ears and sexily whispered, "You look great love." She squeaked out a small thank you and quickly diverted her attention to the three giggling women. She needed to get distracted or she would surely faint because of him.

Naruto released his hold on his girlfriend, silently walked towards Sakura, then swiftly snatched the paper out of her hands.

The words quickly dissipated. Naruto again stared at the blank paper. His eyes narrowed as he finally caught up and growled, "That bastard!"

It seemed like Sasuke cleverly placed a jutsu to the letter to prevent his prying eyes from snooping around.  
A jutsu where only Sakura's unique chakra signature would be able to release.

His brooding was cut in short when he heard the girls gasped.

There in Sakura's hand was a hair ornament made of crystals and jade. It was shaped like the Uchiha Clan symbol designed with red roses surrounding a single fan.

"So this was what that punk was talking about." Tsunade took it from her hands and examined the complex craftsmanship.

"Huh? What do you mean, shishou?"

"Well you didn't think an old lady could injure Sasuke right?" Tsunade joked completely erasing Sakura's confusion.

"Che… Unless that old lady was you. Then, that's a totally different story." Naruto's remark just earned him another bump to the head and a bruised cheek to add to his collection.

"Oh yeah, he had injuries when he came back from his mission." She absentmindedly recalled.

"Turn around and let me fix this to your hair." Tsunade placed the elegant hair piece to her apprentice's hair and let her curls flow through it.

"Damn forehead. I shouldn't have given up on Sasuke." Ino gazed at her friend in pure amazement.

"Even so, you wouldn't have any chance anyways." Sakura turned around, faced her, and playfully stuck out her tongue at her maid of honor.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say forehead." They smiled widely at each other. They might love to compete and annoy each other but deep inside they were truly best of friends.

"Hey stopped being horsing around you two. We need to go. Its almost time for the wedding." Tsunade rushed all of them out of the dressing room.

* * *

The Hokage mansion's garden and courtyard were converted to the wedding's reception. The ambiance was perfect since the season was slowly changing from the blazing heat of the summer to a cooler and subtle atmosphere of autumn. The aisle was lined up with a red carpet along with fresh petals of red and white roses. The guests sat in accordance to their participation in the wedding and rank. The first two seats up front were reserved to the bridesmaids, maid of honor, best man, flower girls and their escorts, the Rookie Nine, Team Gai, the Kazekage and his siblings, Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin. Yes, even Karin was invited to the wedding. Sakura felt that it was only right for her to be there since she was also someone close to Sasuke.

The ceremony was about to start and everyone waited in anticipation.

Everyone's attention was diverted as the door to the Hokage mansion opened and Tsunade came out wearing her Hokage robes.

All stood up and paid respect as she walked towards the front and assumed her position at the altar.

The music signaled the beginning of the ceremony. All of the wedding participants came out one by one.

The girls were wearing a baby pink kimono tied with a yellow obi, hairs were semi-pulled back into a flowing curls,  
and a single flower, white with splash of pink colored lily, was placed on their right ears while the guys wore a simple yet stylish dark-blue haori.

The moment everyone, especially the handsome groom, was waiting for arrived.

Naruto lightly nudged Sasuke to his bride's direction.

Sakura gracefully walked down the aisle. Her left hand was holding a bouquet of red-tipped white roses while her right hand was securely in place in Kakashi's arm.

Once they arrived at the altar, Kakashi gently handed Sakura's hand to Sasuke's waiting one.

"She's all yours. Take good care of her." Kakashi let go of her hand and before he could walk back to this seat, Sakura stopped him and hugged him close.  
Tears were already visible in her eyes as she lightly whispered a small thank you to her sensei who she already considered as her father.

Kakashi pulled back, softly kissed her cheeks, and a smile was clearly visible through his mask.

Sasuke tugged on Sakura's hand and led her towards the altar. The couple stood in front of the Hokage as she started the ceremony with the usual greetings of the guests.

Sakura sneaked a glance at her soon-to-be husband and blushed. He simply looked gorgeous in his dark-blue haori designed with the same clan symbol as his mother's kimono.

Unbeknownst to everyone, including Sakura, Sasuke too was admiring his lovely bride.

The moment he saw her walked out of the mansion's double doors, he felt somewhat light headed and out of breath. She looked so pure and innocent wearing her white wedding kimono decorated with light pink cherry blossom prints at the bottom. She only wore light make up to enhance her natural beauty.

Finally, Sakura caught him gazing at her and she lightly giggled. Guess, her plan did work.

She really did turn the tables around. In other words, she just left him breathless.

"The rings please." Tsunade took the ring from the little ring bearer and held it in front of the couple.

"Uchiha Sasuke, do you take Haruno Sakura to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, may it be in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?" Tsunade's voice echoed throughout the garden.

"I do." Sasuke eyes flickered with emotions as he gazed at Sakura. He was expecting Tsunade to repeat the wedding vows but rather he was confused as Sakura started to speak.

"I, Haruno Sakura, take you, Uchiha Sasuke, to be a part of my life forever, to cherish our lives together, may it be in times of pure happiness or in times of great sorrows, to stand by your said in times of failure or in triumph, to embrace the real you, to provide a family whom you can trust and depend on, to care for you until we're no more, to grant peacefulness within your restless soul, to offer a place you could finally call home, to endlessly love you unconditionally, for all eternity." Sakura smiled at Sasuke's bewildered face.

Her wedding vows conveyed everything that he searched for all his life. Even though he tried to look stoic and unaffected, Sakura knew that inside he was taken by surprised.

One look in his eyes told her that for an instant his emotional barrier shielding his feelings from the public shook and inevitably broke down.

"Without, further ado, Uchiha you may now kiss the bride."

Sasuke didn't wait any longer and formally sealed their bond. He passionately kissed her communicating every emotions he felt at the moment.

He couldn't care less if they were in front of a massive crowd. All he cared about was the love his cherry blossom offered even to someone as inconsiderate  
and practically emotionally-challenged individual such as him. He pulled back to let them catch their breaths.

"Everyone, I now present to you Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Sakura."

Loud cheers and uproar caused a pandemonium throughout the garden.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. Can I have the newlyweds in the dance floor for their first dance."

The light dimmed as the soft music began to play.

Sasuke led his blushing wife towards the center of the dance floor. She looked up and giggled at the frown marring his face.

"Don't tell me your scared of dancing?" She playfully asked him. Eyes gleaming with uncontrolled laughter.

"Dancing is for pansies." He gruffly stated, placed his arms around her waist, and lightly swayed to the music.

**_Hey you're looking good tonight  
__And every girl has got you in her sight…_**

"But you're dancing, doesn't that make you a pansy as well?" She again giggled as her husband's pale cheeks lightly colored with pink.

"Shut up." He tried to glare at her but couldn't because he was mesmerized by her soft face being highlighted by the dimmed light.

_**What, you doing with someone like me?  
Surely one of life's little mysteries…**_

Sasuke leaned forward and huskily whispered in her ear, "You look amazing."

The sound of his voice was enough to turn her legs into jelly. If it was even possible, she felt numb yet completely alive at the same time.

"Well, you look dashing as ever my hubby." She smiled as he raised his eyebrow at her new nickname for him.

_**So tonight I'll ask the stars above  
How did I ever win your love?…**_

"I heard you threatened an old man for this kimono?" She leaned closer and rested her chin on top of his shoulder.

"Served him right." He gruffly stated and felt her smile through the skin of his neck.

_**What did I do? What did I say?  
To turn your angel eyes my way…**_

"Sasuke-kun, thank you." She silently whispered. Eyes yet again started to fill with unshed tears.

"For what?"

**_Well I'm a girl who never learned to dance  
__Never even got one second glance…_**

"For everything."

She leaned back and tried to wipe away her tears.

Sasuke held onto his hand and gently brushed away her tears from her cheeks with his thumb.

"As in?" He urged for her to continue.

_**Across the crowded room was close enough  
I could look but I could never touch…** _

"As in being here with me right now. Choosing me to be your wife. Entrusting me with your mother's kimono and your family's heirloom." She leaned forward and gazed up at him.

"Why?"

_**So tonight I'll ask the stars above  
How did I ever win your love?…**_

"Why what?" Her eyebrows crunched up in question.

"Did you ever doubt me?" He asked. He was curious as to what she really felt underneath her smiles.

_**What did I do? What did I say?  
To turn your angel eyes my way…**_

"Well, yeah. Most of the time actually. I mean I only dreamed about this and I wasn't entirely sure and convinced that you would pick me out of so many." She honestly replied.

She believed that if they were going to start a new life together, then they should start it by being completely honest with each other.

_**Don't anybody wake meIt feels just a dream  
Cause its the best thing that's ever happened to me…**_

"Are you convinced now that we're married?" He asked her again.

"Well, I'm still a little bit dazed and unsure if this is just a dream or a reality." Sakura noticeably stiffened when she felt Sasuke sighed.

She was scared that she annoyed him too much and somehow angered him.

_**All you ladies, you can look all you like  
Cause this guy you see is leaving here with me…**_

"Hn" Sasuke unexpectedly kissed her. He figured that this was the only way to prove to her that this was reality.

Their reality.

_**So tonight Ill ask the stars above  
How did I ever win your love?…**_

He poured all of his feelings in a single kiss. She felt it and finally understood. Now, everything that was bottled up inside them suddenly came out.

Their fears...

Sasuke's fear of losing her. Sakura's fear of waking up and finding that everything was just a dream.

Their insecurities...

Was she good enough to be his wife? What if she changed her mind and abandon him?

Their worries...

Would their love lasts? Would everything be just the way she/he envisioned their family life would be?

However, all these negative thoughts were ultimately washed away as their love for each other surfaced.

_**What did I do? What did I say?  
To turn your angel eyes my way…**_

"So did that answer all your questions?" Sasuke sexily smirked at her.

"Definitely." She smiled and thought how Sasuke was more talkative now. He sure was speaking in complete sentences today.

_**So tonight Ill ask the stars above  
How did I ever win your love?…**_

"I love you, Sasuke-kun."

And just this once, in front of so many people, the Uchiha uttered five simple yet powerful words.

"I love you too, Koishii."

_**What did I do? What did I say?  
To turn your angel eyes my way…**_

* * *

Acknowledgment:

"Angle Eyes" by Paulini

Koishii means beloved...

Shishou means master/elder teacher...

A/N:

WOW… This has got to be the longest chapter ever!… Fluff, fluff, and more fluff… Well, there you go… The highly anticipated wedding… Stay tuned for the next chapters since it would greatly connect to the summary… Happy reading…

Review... Review... Review...

* * *


	6. Breathless

* * *

Warning: This chapter contains mature themes. So if you are not comfortable with lemons then you may skip this chapter and wait for the next one…

* * *

Chapter 6: Breathless

The wedding reception ended some time around nine pm. Although, the majority of the guests, mostly the politicians and aristocrats, left earlier than expected; right after showering the couple with wedding gifts and engaging conversation about alliances with the two. The only ones that stayed very late were the people were very close to the newlyweds.

The group crazily partied like there was no tomorrow. They were chatting, drinking, and dancing all over the place. The Hokage mansion was pretty much --- trashed.

Even, Sasuke started loosening up after a couple of drinks. Sakura knew that he was already tipsy when he boldly ravaged her lips right in front everybody. Not the sweet and sensual kisses they shared during the dance and reception, but rather, this was a kiss he would normally reserved once they were out of everyone's sight. He had a reputation to uphold after all. However, his rationality was slowly slipping as alcohol took over his mind.

He also got along very well with their friends. Especially with Naruto. He even joined Naruto with one of his silly drinking games.

And whenever sake was involved, it was for sure that Tsunade would never, ever miss it.

Tsunade carelessly threw her Hokage robes to Shizune who was trying to talk her out of the drinking challenge. Shizune had a very bad feeling about the game.

She had seen Tsunade get awfully drunk to the point of passing out with vomit all over the place.

Luckily, Shizune was always there to clean her up and Sakura to knock some sense into her. However, Tsunade would always over power them and instead of them lecturing her, they would get the worst lecture of their lives.

* * *

"YOSH!" Naruto yelled, signaling the start of the drinking contest. He messily chugged down a whole bottle of sake without stopping.

The Hokage did not want to be outdone so she grabbed a pitcher which contained ice, poured three enormous bottles of sake in it, took a straw, and as lady like as she could, sipped through the straw nonstop.

She would show these amateurs the 'right way' to get drunk like a pro. Halfway to her drink, she found everyone almost giving up. The only one left was her, Kakashi, and Gai. She smirked, looking pretty confident. She had already won the contest before it even began.

* * *

Sakura looked to the others, both non-participant, semi-participant, and eager participant of the ridiculous contest.

A sober Shikamaru was trapped between two rampant kunoichis both had sake cups in one of their hands.

He was currently squeezed in the middle of Ino and Temari who were giving each other murderous look.

Sakura wondered who would make the first move.

Ino or Temari… Hmmm…

Both were really hard-headed and equally seductive. It was only a matter of time before poor Shikamaru would finally break his resolve and jump one of them.

Or maybe both?…

Sakura was not entirely surprised when Ino tugged onto Shikamaru's left arm and suggestively rubbed her semi-exposed chest on his arm. Shikamaru, being a man himself born with raging hormones, couldn't help but openly stare at the young woman's assets.

When Temari noticed that Shikamaru's attention was diverted away from her, she took a shot of her sake, deliberately yanked his face away from Ino's chest, and gave him the most passionate kiss she could muster. His eyes widen considerably when Temari forced his mouth open with her tongue and made him drink sake from her mouth.

Kiba was beside the trio and was robustly cheering on Shikamaru. Akamaru on the other hand was simply sleeping on the ground next to his master.

Sakura cringed at the sight. She did not ever want to see Shikamaru getting it on with either Ino or Temari. Someone ought to stop them before the party turned into an orgy.

She switched her gaze to Choji. No good. He might not be able interfere because he had his hands pretty much filled up. Not with girls or sake. But with his one and only love; food.

Rock Lee was out of the question. He was already knocked-out cold probably from too much sake. She was not aware though that he only got drunk because he drowned himself in alcohol to mourn his defeat against Sasuke.

Kakashi and Gai, on the other hand, already gave up with the drinking contest and accepted defeat. Althouh they finally stopped drinking, it was already too late for they already had way too much sake.

She swore that sometimes the two acted like a bunch of idiotic teenagers. Who would have thought the great copy nin would be reduced to a lunatic, not only that, he was also dancing with an equally eccentric sensei clad in green spandex.

Behind the dancing couple were Gaara, Sai, and Shino. It seemed like Gaara and Sai were having a very deep conversation while Shino merely next to them. She couldn't exactly tell if Shino was listening for her eyes were hidden behind his trademark dark rounded glasses.

She switched her gaze to the Kazekaga when he would sometimes nod at whatever Sai was saying and it continued on for some time. She absentmindedly wondered how the two got along. Gaara would never have his time wasted listening to someone as sarcastic as Sai.

Her thoughts were distracted by a loud moan. She curiously turned her gaze to Ino's direction. Big mistake.

Somehow Shikamaru got horribly drunk as well and started feeling up Ino while Temari was just sitting comfortably in his lap.

On instant, Sakura tightly closed her eyes and shook off the image out of her mind. She was so sure that she would have nightmares from then on. She opened her eyes and again went in search for someone who could stop them.

She was expecting Tenten or Hinata to stop their friends. Unforntunately, she found the two were equally occupied with their significant others.

She raised her eyebrow at what she saw. Naruto, Sasuke, Kankuro, and Neji were having the time of their lives.

Naruto was laughing his ass out at whatever Kankuro was making his puppet do and say while Sasuke and Neji were simply smirking and chuckling from time to time.

It was very strange to see Naruto break down the two most impassive ninjas she had ever known. Clearly, the booze was distorting with Sasuke's and Neji's brains.

It seemed like Naruto's brain was floating in a drunken abyss while the two were slowly but surely getting their minds clouded with alcohol as well.

* * *

Then, she got a brilliant idea. She mischievously took out her camera and captured some snapshots of everyone. If she had to suffer Ino's and Temari's rendezvous with Shikamaru then everyone has to suffer also.

She snickered at all the pictures she took. It would come very handy later on. Blackmailing was cruel but who cares at least she would get anything she wanted.

Her attention focused on her shishou. Tsunade was not in good shape either. More of sake and Sakura was sure that Tsunade would loose it. Absolutely embarrassed with her shishou, Sakura swiftly switched the sake with a less alcoholic drink she found amongst the table. She figured that they wouldn't notice the different since they already consumed so much sake and were considerably drunk.

* * *

She thought that her ninja skills helped her as she slyly made her way towards the mansion without being notice.

Unfortunately, Sasuke spotted her sneaking out of the reception carrying the real sake bottles.

He followed her towards the kitchen, making sure his chakra signature was concealed. Sasuke watched as his wife poured and emptied the sake bottles down the drain.

He was eyeing his wife. His gaze lingering on her ass.

Smirking, he walked silently, grabbed her by the waist, and groped her firm behind.

On impulse, Sakura grabbed his arms and banged the back of her head to his startled face. The impact caused him to let go of her waist, slipped backwards, and fell onto his ass.

Blood was gushing out of his broken nose as he tried to put as much pressure on it to stop the flow of blood.

Sakura gasped upon realizing who her supposedly enemy was and hurriedly rushed to her husband's side.

"Oh shit! Sasuke-kun are you ok?" She gently tried to pry his hands away from his face to inspect the damage.

Sasuke glowered at her and leaned away from her hands. "Do I look ok to you?"

Okay was not the right word to describe his condition. His nose terribly ache, it won't stop bleeding, and to top that, he was currently seeing stars circling around his head.

"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun… Here, move your hands and let me see." She yet again tried to take his hands away and succeeded this time around. She held his chin up with her left hand to stop the blood flow and her right hand started to glow with a bright green color. She supplied enough chakra to her hand and carefully healed his nose.

Sasuke wouldn't admit it out loud but his wife simply amazed him. He was entranced at how her hand soothingly caressed his bruised nose just like a mother delicately caring for her child. Her healing hand brought calmness not just for his injury but throughout his soul.

He fully understood now why he was compelled to risk his life all those years just ensure her safety. Why he would instantly appear by her side whenever he sensed danger. There was this certain force that drew him towards her. And no matter how harsh and hard he pushed her away, how he made her heart bleed, and how he tormented her soul, one unrecognized fact remained: Sakura loves him, plain and simple.

His empty life was not so much empty now. She completely filled the void in his heart.

Once she was sure that the bridge of his nose was back in place and the bleeding completely stopped, she leaned back and slowly her emerald eyes made contact with his obsidian ones.

"Sasuke-kun… I'm really sorry." She switched her gaze away from him and was now interested on the floor.

She was so embarrassed. She couldn't believe that she knocked Sasuke off of his feet, literary, on their special day.

An unwelcomed voice suddenly popped in her head_. "Well, it's not like this is the first time you knocked him off of his feet." _

"_**Go away! This is really not the right time." **_

"_Whhhaaattt?! I'm just telling the truth. Hello!… Remember that time when you guys felt like playing rough… Damn, you did some major damage on him. Although not on his face but still he had like what? Two broken ribs?…" _Inner Sakura flashed her a malicious smirk and suggestively wiggled her eyebrows.

"_**Would you stop it already!" **_She really had no time for her Inner acting like a horny pervert.

"_Hhhhmmppphhh!!!… Fine!… Just to remind you, that was not the only incident…" _She cunningly replied before disappearing.

"_**Arrrgghhh!!! Go away!!!" **_Her eyebrows were crunched up in exasperation.

All she wanted was a nice and PEACEFUL wedding. But now, everything was turning out to be the opposite.

* * *

Sasuke just stared back at her face. He was thoroughly amused at his wife for her lovely face was expressing and switching from one emotion to another rapidly for about a fraction of a second.

Anger… Irritation… Embarrassment... All caused her face to turn a dark shade red .

He found it rather arousing seeing her flushed face and pouted lips. He couldn't control himself as a low groan came out of his parted lips when he saw her tongue nervously but sensually licked her lower lips.

Right then and there, he possessively grabbed her arms, yanked her towards him, molded their bodies together, and ravaged her sweet lips.

It took a couple of seconds for her brain to register what was happening and before she knew it, Sasuke transported them back to their apartment; precisely in their bedroom.

* * *

Sasuke pushed a startled Sakura against the wall; trapping her against his hot body and the cold surface of the wall.

"Ahhh…" Sakura moaned out loud as he sucked harshly on her exposed neck.

His hands did not remain idle. It was furiously tugging against her obi trying to release her body from it. The obi fell to the floor and the front of her obi was finally loose. Sasuke pushed the kimono away from her shoulder blades, exposing a great deal of cleavage.

His feverish lips continued its path down to her now exposed shoulder. She tasted like the most addicting substance out there. He even compared her to a candy wrapped in a fancy wrapping paper. The wrapper might look good but it was nothing compared to what's inside.

Sasuke pulled off her kimono and it fell gently to the floor.

He paused for a moment and stepped back to admire her.

She was panting hard. Onyx eyes lustfully feasted on her curvaceous body. She looked so wanton and loose with the way her chest seductively heaved to the rhythm of a fast-paced music, red lips sucked in oxygen, and her body erotically called out to him. All because of his presence.

He smirked and licked his lips approving her choice of see-through red lacey underwear. She might be still as innocent, both in heart and mind, like the first time they made love, but she sure knew how to turn him on and draw out a reaction of him. A very big, hard, and aching reaction.

Sakura blushed harder and anxiously covered her body with her shaking hands. However before she could even completely shield herself away from his fierce gaze, Sasuke grabbed her hands and held it above her head with one hand.

"Don't hide your body from me…" He murmured against her left ear. "You're completely mine now Sa-ku-ra." Her breathe hitched and closed her eyes as he licked, nipped, and sucked hard on her earlobe.

She violently shivered when Sasuke impatiently tore off her bra and fondled her bare breast releasing her trapped hands in the process.

He took his time trailing hot kisses towards her twin peaks. He hungrily took one hardened nipple in his mouth and sucked on it like a baby while he played on the other. The pad of his thumb roughly rubbed her nipple. The combination of the cold room temperature and his warm hand left her brain's sensory strip in haywire. Her senses couldn't distinguished which one she was experiencing at the moment; whether her body was freezing up or burning down.

Sasuke's hand trailed south. His hand was caressing her creamy thighs down to her soft and tone legs.

Sakura pulled his head up for a scorching kiss. She couldn't help but moaned as he intensified their kiss. His tongue roughly played with her, dominating her. He titled her head for a better access and explored the deep caverns of her mouth. Her quivering hands were on his hair, soothingly massaging his scalps.

She gasped escaping his lips when his hand inched up between her legs, slipped inside her panties, and cupped the warmth of her womanhood.

"Open up." He huskily whispered and she couldn't help but follow his instructions.

She spread her legs and he took the opportunity to plunged a finger in her core. The action sent shock waves from her spinal cord to her brain.

He groaned at how wet and hot she was down there.

She threw her head back against the wall as his added two more of his fingers. She bit down hard on her lower lips to keep herself from screaming. She helplessly moved against his fingers silently asking for release.

Granting her request, Sasuke shifted his slow in and out motion to a more powerful and hard one. The force building up inside her suddenly burst and left her screaming for more as she reached her peak.

Sasuke removed his hand from her core, placed his fingers that were covered with her essence to his mouth, and tasted her. He groaned at how pure and sweet she tasted. She was like a forbidden fruit and he was simply captivated to take at least one single bite.

Just enough to taint her innocence.

Just enough to calm his nerves.

Just enough to satisfy his hunger.

Sakura stared at him as he licked on his fingers and unconsciously grounded her warmth against his raging hard on. His eyes rolled back at the feeling of her hot and wet core rubbing against his covered manhood.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura desperately called out to him.

Sasuke's eyes snapped back into reality. Back to her passion filled eyes. He groaned out aloud at the sight before him and lost control. He took a step back and furiously took off all of his clothes. Play time was over in an instant.

He savagely ripped off her panties, grabbed her bottom, lifted her higher up the wall, and positioned his hard length against her wet entrance. He rubbed the swollen head of his manhood against the inner lips of her womanhood. Pre-cum mixed with her juice.

"Sasuke-kun… Please…" She helplessly whimpered. The anticipation was slowly killing her.

Sakura screamed in passion as Sasuke abruptly entered her. His hardness roughly plunged into her core, hitting her sweet spot.

Eyes screwed shut, a moan escaped his parted lips as his length was gripped tightly by her warmth. It was like there was no room for any more movement.

All his body senses shut down except the ones from his manhood. His sensory monitors were as if centered on his length. It only functioned to deliver him the most scorching passion he could only feel with Sakura. It felt so perfectly right to be inside her. Something that somebody could only feel once they shared it with someone they truly loved.

He slowly eased out of her until only the head was inside her. Then, roughly thrust back deeply inside her burning core. Her breathe hitched as he set a fast rhythm. He watched through his bangs as she moaned out loud.

Sasuke leaned forward and captured her lips in his. He was now wildly pounding into her hard and fast.

All of Sakura's moans were being silenced by his passionate lips. She moved against him, matching his rhythm.

Bare skins were glistening with sweat.

Wet noises coming out as naked bodies pounded in wild abandon.

Moans echoed throughout the room.

In was only a matter of time before one of them finally breaks.

If possible, the speed of their movement tripled as he impaled his length over and over again into her tight hole.

"Open your eyes." He commanded. She opened her eyes and tried to focus on him. If he was going to give it to her hard, he wanted to see her eyes as it sparkled with ecstasy.

He too was panting hard. Her walls started tightening around him. The burning feeling was yet again arising from inside her body.

One hard thrust triggered Sakura's climax. She screamed out his name as her warmth clenched around him, sucking him dry.

Such an erotic sight brought him closer to his own release.

"Fuck." He growled and repeatedly thrust into her; more deeper, harder, and fiercer.

"Sakura…" He moaned and with a final hard thrust, surrendered into the depths of her and filled her womb with his seed.

Their passionate lovemaking left both of them breathless.

Sasuke sagged forward and leaned against her shoulder.

She soothingly caressed his back and nudged onto his head.

He looked up at her and faced her smiling face. She leaned down and gave him a chaste kiss.

And before she could even pull back and catch her breathe, his manhood was back in full force. He lifted their bodies off the wall, grabbed her legs around him, and carried her to the bed.

He laid on his back and had her straddled his hardness. The position elevated their ecstasy to the next level.

"Koishii… Ride me." With that command, they started another round after round of their hot and passionate lovemaking all throughout the night.

Sakura discovered that Sasuke was more on the animalistic and raw side when he's on the verge of drunkenness.

Guessed her Inner was not the only one who's horny.

* * *

"Hey, has anyone seen Sasuke-kun?"

"Kaaarrrriiinnnn… You no need see him no moooorrrreee…." Suigetsu slurred, finished his drink, and slumped next to a drunken Naruto.

"Nobody asked you shark-face!!!…" Karin fumed.

"Karin, Sasuke is now married. I suggest it's about time you let go of him." Juugo honestly advised her.

Karin flared up with anger, stood up, and left her teammates.

Karin's hard stomping woke up a disoriented Naruto.

"Huh… Whhhat?…" Naruto's asked. "Ey… Where's Teme and Sakura-chan?…"

* * *

A/N:

Don't forget to leave a review. Tell me what you liked and don't liked. Constructive opinions are welcomed.

Get ready because this would be the last of the slow-paced chapters. So hope you guys stick around and find out what's going to really happen…

Also, thanks to all of my reviewers and readers.

So… happy reading…

Review… Review… Review…

* * *


	7. Newsflash

* * *

Chapter 7: Newsflash

One month later…

Everything was back to normal with the Uchiha couple. Their relaxing days were replaced with hectic and tiresome schedules.

Sasuke has been into three missions just a week after their wedding. It seemed like the black ops couldn't fully function without him.

His anbu squad, Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo, along with Naruto's squad had been assigned to a mission with double objectives. One was to spy on some radical group residing in Mist Country and the other was to acquire information from the Raikage of the Land of Lighting, one of Konoha's allied country. There had been rumors circulating among the five great nations that the Mizukage was plotting against the Hokage of the Fire Country.

* * *

A few months ago, Kakashi was sent by Tsunade to represent Konoha in a peace treaty negotiation with Mist.

Most of the countries were already striking deals with Konoha after the war against the Akatsuki and Sound, the only one left was Mist.

Tsunade believed that the reason why the current Mizukage refused to sign her proposed treaty was due to the fact that the notorious Madara Uchiha was once their Mizukage. Somehow, Mist Country worshipped the late Akatsuki leader and modeled all their political views on his twisted mind.

Since, the Mizukage sided with Madara, she guessed that the country couldn't accept defeat and its Mizukage was feeling bitter towards her. After all, she was the one in charged with the destruction of Akatsuki and the rest of the world was very much aware on how Konoha's elites destroyed Madara.

* * *

Sakura also got back to the hospital and once in a while was sent into scouting missions across the village's northern borders.

The hospital has been pretty busy. Shinobis and civilians were coming in and out of the hospital every second of the day.

She had to go over tons of medical records which filed and stacked up while she was on her wedding vacation. At the same time, she also tried to catch up with her work as the head doctor of the hospital's west wing.

Shizune was a big help but she was also busy running the hospital's east wing.

Sakura would sometimes work for a sixteen hour shift in one day just so she could fully attend to all her patients.

* * *

In this past month, Sakura could probably count the times she spent the night with Sasuke in just one hand.

Every morning, she would wake up next to her exhausted husband, prepare breakfast for him, and leave early before he was able to wake up. They would be lucky enough if Sakura's lunch time was available, only then, Sasuke could pick her up so they could eat lunch together. However at night, it's either he was on a mission or she was working late at the hospital. Their schedules prevented them from having some quality time together.

* * *

"Yuki, can you follow up with the laboratory about that test for my patient." Sakura yelled through the opened door to her assistant nurse who was across from her office.

"Yes, Sakura-sempai." The startled nurse quickly wrote down the patient's name and code number.

"Thanks." Sakura said without even looking at her office door where her assistant nurse was standing. She was busily scribbling down diagnosis and footnotes on her other patient's medical records.

Once she was done going over the records, she leaned back on her leather chair and rubbed her temples. She supplied healing chakra to her head. She couldn't afford getting headaches for she still had a lot of things to do.

Sakura checked the clock. It was already passed two in the afternoon and yet she hasn't even stopped working to eat lunch. As a doctor, she knew it was bad skipping meals but it couldn't be helped since the majority of Konoha somehow decided to get sick at the same time.

She looked outside her window and saw the drizzling of snow flakes all over the streets. Well, it was probably the weather that caused many people to get sick. It was flu season after all.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone barging inside her office.

"Hey Forehead." Ino walked towards her desk and dropped a plastic box in front of Sakura.

Sakura raised her eyebrow as her best friend comfortably sat down in one of the chairs in front of her table. "What do you want, Pig? And what's that?"

"Well, I knew you skipped lunch again so I decided to be a darling and bring you some edible lunch other than that Ichiraku ramen Naruto brings you all the time. You know, you shouldn't skip lunch in your condition, some doctor you are." Ino rolled her eyes at her. Ino shook her head at Sakura's bad habits, took out a pair of chopsticks, and opened the bento for her. "So here, eat up."

"Thanks Ino, you're a life saver." Sakura's mouth watered at the food before her.

Inside the bento were rice balls wrapped in seaweed, shrimp tempura, pork katsu, fried eggs, and pickled vegetables. She really praised Ino for her cooking skills. Many people didn't know that Ino always spoiled Sakura when it came to food.

"So, when will Sasuke come back?" Ino asked her. She smirked at how Sakura quickly devoured her lunch.

Sakura gulped down the rice ball she was chewing before answering her, "Ummm, I think he's gonna be back from his four day mission before midnight."

Sakura resumed eating, greedily vacuuming through half of her food.

"Sooo…. Are you gonna tell him the news?" Ino once again interrupted her.

Sakura stopped eating and thought about Ino's question.

* * *

A few days ago, she discovered changes happening to her body. She knew the human body inside-out. If there was something wrong with her she could easily detect the illness and cure herself. Being a doctor, she first analyzed her symptoms and waited for the next three days to confirm what she had suspected.

The first symptom was her irregular mood swings. Even at work, she would snap easily which was not normal considering she had always been cheerful and attentive when it came to her job at the hospital.

The second one was morning sickness. At exactly nine every morning, she would feel butterflies in her tummy and it was not the good one either. She even left that time free in her schedule so she could go to her bathroom with no trouble. Although, vomiting was very troublesome on her part.

The third symptom was a weird one. She somehow felt disgusted with the color purple. Sakura would feel sick whenever she saw anything of that 'hideous' color. She even went as far as buying Ino a whole set of wardrobe just so her friend could change her purple outfit.

The fourth symptom happened only once. She fainted when she was in the middle of attending to her patient. The poor old lady panicked when her doctor suddenly dropped to the floor and lost consciousness; she almost had a heart attack right then and there.

The last symptom was a total give away; she missed her monthly period. Some causes of missing monthly period would be stress or damage to the body. But, she was as healthy as a horse, her body was built and trained to endure the harsh and rough conditions caused by her profession. She never, ever had irregular period in her life.

So by the end of the third day, Sakura grabbed a home pregnancy test before she left the hospital. Once she was at home, she quickly went straight to the bathroom and ran the test. The whole five minute waiting time greatly agitated her. When it was time to check the results, Sakura held the little stick in one hand and its box in her other hand. She stared back and fort between the result and the box's guidelines.

Her frown immediately switched to a wide smile once she found out that the test result was positive. She was indeed pregnant.

The following day Sakura broke the news first to Ino which was a big mistake on her part because before the end of the day the whole village knew about her pregnancy.

Shizune suggested and offered to conduct a laboratory test for Sakura just to make sure she was really pregnant. After all, most pregnancy tests were only ninety nine point nine percent accurate. There was always that point zero one percent error in there. So, Shizune and Sakura ran a test in the lab and it did confirmed that she was now a hundred percent pregnant with the Uchiha heir.

When she told Tsunade about her condition, the Hokage couldn't help but be happy for her apprentice. Tsunade examine her thoroughly and instructed her to take it easy from now on. She wouldn't want her first grandchild to be in danger just because of Sakura's stressful workload.

* * *

Sakura's mind was brought back to her office by another question from Ino.

"How are you gonna break it to his frail heart?"

She answered her question with another question. "Frail?" Sakura's face was etched with confusion.

Ino widely grinned at her and said, "Well, you know how he had always wanted this. Hope he doesn't drop dead and faint on you."

The girls looked at each other and suddenly burst in pure laughter.

They giggled at the idea of Sasuke fainting like a girl.

Once Sakura calmed down, she smartly replied, "Pssshh… I don't think so. It was one of his goals after all."

"True. So, seriously how are you gonna tell him? Some special way?"

"Wouldn't you wanna know, Pig." Sakura sarcastically replied and jokingly teased Ino, "Sasuke's right. The best kunoichis out there are a bunch of nosy hyenas."

"Hey!!! No name calling please" Ino retorted, then pointed at Sakura's face and smirked. "And wouldn't that include you too."

"Ey, don't count me. I have a life, unlike 'some' people." She snorted and went on finishing her lunch.

* * *

Sakura left the hospital early in hopes that she could prepare something before Sasuke's return.

She borrowed Ino's cookbook and prepared a candlelight dinner with a meal consisting of beef yakitori, tuna onigi, tomato soup, sake for Sasuke and water for her.

The door to their apartment opened and came in a haggard-looking shinobi.

Sasuke got home a bit earlier than expected. Upon entering his home, his nose was assaulted by a delicious aroma. He took off his shoes, walked towards the kitchen, and found Sakura reaching for a glass up in the kitchen cabinet.

Sasuke swiftly walked behind her, casually reached for two glasses, and handed it to her.

He placed his arms next to her sides, trapping her in between, and nuzzled on her neck. He inhaled softly against her and thought how he missed her lovely scent. He was gone quite long and he didn't get the chance to properly say goodbye to her before he left because she had already went to the hospital.

She was not startled at all when he came up behind her for she already felt his chakra before he even opened the door.

Sakura turned around, tip toed, and lightly kissed him on the lips. Sasuke held the back of her head and deepened the kiss.

She pulled back and whispered against his soft lips, "Okaeri, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn"

She took his hand and led him to the dining table.

The couple ate quietly. Simple conversations were started and abruptly cut short.

He noticed that his wife was very fidgety tonight. She would look back and forth between him and her plate as if she was hiding something important from him. Sasuke did not know how close his assumption was to the real thing.

He sighed, placed down his chopsticks, leaned on his hands, and pointedly stared at her. "What is it?"

Sakura suddenly dropped her chopsticks, snapped her eyes to his, and 'smartly' replied, "Huh?"

"Is there something wrong?" He asked her.

Her lips formed an O when she realized why he would ask such a thing. "Nothing's wrong. In fact it's quite the opposite."

"Hn" A deadpanned reply came from her husband.

Sakura's left eye twitched in irritation.

She took a deep breath before replying, "Well, Sasuke-kun… How would you like to have a clone?"

"A clone?" He simply raised his left eyebrow and continued, "Sakura, I know how to do the shadow clone jutsu. I don't think I need a clone of myself right now."

"Not that kind of clone, you dummy." Sakura smiled at his silliness.

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. He was tired from his mission and did not have the patience to play one of her guessing games. He looked back at her and found her still widely smiling at him and for some reason her eyes were sparkling with joy as well.

It was now or never. Well, in her case later because sooner or later he would find out.

"I'm pregnant." She loudly blurted out and eagerly waited for his reaction.

Silence.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Sasuke's chin slipped from his hand. He closed his eyes and shook his head. His ears were ringing due to her shrill voice and for some reason he thought he heard her say that she was pregnant.

Once the ringing stopped, he looked back at her and found tears were falling down Sakura's face.

Here she was telling him that she was pregnant with his child and all he did was shake his head.

Didn't he want the baby?...

Wasn't restoring his clan his dream?...

Didn't he want her to be the mother of his child?...

Sasuke dashed to her side in a flash. Worry etched on his handsome face.

"What's wrong?" He gently raised her face to look in her eyes.

She saw how worried he got and couldn't help but hug him. Tears continued on falling from her eyes.

"Sakura?"

"SasukekunItoldyouI'mpregnantandhereyouhavenoreactionwhatsoever" Sakura exclaimed without pausing.

Even though she said it too fast for normal hearing, his trained ears caught every single word that came out of her mouth.

Shock went through his spine.

Pregnant.

His Sakura.

A baby.

For the first time, Sasuke smiled broadly. Not a sexy grin or a conceited smirk. A pure and happy smile that was utterly new and unfamiliar to this one Uchiha.

He pulled back, cupped her face with his calloused hands, and kissed her.

No words were necessary to expressed what he was feeling.

* * *

Later that night, Sakura prepared a relaxing bubble bath for the both of them.

The couple were currently relaxing in the bathtub. Sakura had her back to Sasuke's chest while one of his hand was around her and the other rested on the edge of the tub.

"When did you find out?" He broke the comfortable silence. Another first to be added on Sasuke's list of new found abilities.

"A few days ago, right before you left."

Sakura stated while playing with the bubbles. He simply stared at his wife. She sure was acting weird. One moment she was happy, the next she was crying, and now she was being childish. Must be those mood swing thing he heard about pregnant women.

"So… What do you wanna name our baby, hubby?"

"Hubby?" He asked Sakura.

She raised her head and looked back at him. "Yeah… Hubby's my new nickname for you. I think it suits you." She playfully winked at him.

"Senri's a good name, 'Wifey'…" Sasuke replied.

Sakura crunched up her nose at her given nickname. "Ewww… so not you Sasuke-kun… From now on just leave the name calling to the expert." She mischievously stuck her tongue out at him.

Her playfulness caused Sasuke to laugh. Pure, uncontrolled laughter echoed in the bathroom.

After his laughter settled, Sasuke absentmindedly played with a strand of her hair and gently stated, "Whatever you say mommy."

"Hhhmmm… You think I'll be a good mom?" She was clearly worried. Sakura knew that having a family included having children but she just realized now how much responsibility was placed upon her.

"Being a mom is like an inborn trait you have." He sighed at how lame he sounded. He knew that he was really not that good when it came to giving comforting and encouraging words. Especially someone as emotionally-challenged as him.

The public saw Sasuke as the perfect Uchiha prodigal.

Guessed he really was perfect after all, because right now he perfectly sucked at this.

"Awww… Thank you daddy." Her emerald eyes misted with unshed tears.

"Daddy? What happened to hubby?"

"I don't like it anymore besides you're a daddy now" She giggled and blew kisses to his direction.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her childishness. It was clear now, mood swings were definitely driving his wife crazy.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Bento means boxed lunch.**

**Okaeri means welcome home.**

**I know Sasuke was a bit OOC in this chapter. But it's really hard not to have him act this way especially when he just found out that he's going to be a father and besides this is again after Shippuden, so he somewhat changed already.**

**Don't forget to leave a review… Thanks everyone…**

**Now, here is something to look forward in future chapters…**

* * *

Plot Preview:

"_Time of death?" _

_The nurses fussed around the operating room trying to find the clock._

"_Three thirty pm." Someone scribbled messily on the medical records. Blood tainted the name of the patient._

"_No…" An anguished scream echoed throughout the hallway._

DUNN DUNNN DUNNNN….

* * *


	8. No Pain, No Gain

_

* * *

_

_Flashbacks..._

Real time...

Warning: Spoilers...

* * *

Chapter 8: No Pain, No Gain

"No." Sasuke said without even looking up towards his wife's direction by the fireplace.

Sakura gently placed down her tea cup on the center table, looked directly at him, and calmly argued, "But Sasu-"

But before she could even complete what she wanted to tell him, he gruffly stated, "I said no."

He could feel her narrowed eyes piercing through him. It was only a matter of time before she loose her patience and finally explodes in his face.

It was a trait he noticed ever since she got pregnant. His wife's control easily snapped whenever she was annoyed or when she wouldn't get what she wanted.

She would either throw a temper tantrum or threaten to deny him the pleasures of being with her.

Sasuke knew exactly what his wife meant. No sex whatsoever.

Just because of that threat, he would tolerate his wife's unreasonable and odd behaviors to the point of sucking up his pride and wallowing up in annoyance.

He convinced himself that all of her actions were due to her pregnancy. He rationalized that it was just hormones controlling her irrational actions.

Sasuke clearly remembered that one horrible night when he was tested by his pregnant wife's newfound ability to bend him to her every wish.

A shameful deed an Uchiha such as himself would never, ever live it down if someone was to find out.

* * *

_Two months ago, he recently got back from another spying mission on one of Mist's supposedly deserted villages. There was another rumor about an underground meeting organized by the Mizukage along with some rebel groups, rouge ninjas, and paid assassins. The whole meeting revolved around plotting the overthrow of Tsunade and destruction of Konoha. After learning about the rumor, the Hokage immediately arranged an anbu team composed of Shikamaru, Naruto, Kakashi, and himself to spy and, if needed, terminate the rebellion. They were instructed that if the Mizukage was seen leading the rebellion, they would automatically secure and bring him alive to face trial under the newly formed judicial court of the Five Great Nations. _

* * *

_Kakashi was appointed as their team leader. He then assigned Shikamaru to tactically plan the whole mission._

_The plan was for Naruto to disguise himself as an assassin leader and infiltrate the base with his clones. Shikamaru would stay a safe distance away and scout the area around the village for further information. Kakashi and Sasuke would position themselves inside the village as lookouts and Naruto's back-up if necessary. The main objective was that if any premeditated action against Konoha was to be discussed, Naruto would listen intently and gather as much information as he could and somehow slip a deadly poison in all of the drinks, stealthily exterminating the rebellion. And they would never know what hit them. It was simply silent but deadly._

_"We have the map of Konoha marked with possible entry points. The Hokage tower will be the main objective for the first attack..." The rebels discussed amongst themselves completely oblivious to their surroundings._

_Everything was going according to plan until Naruto blew his cover. Apparently, one of the leaders, a short, fat, hairy, and greasy rouge ninja of a radical group callously spoke out negative things about the Hokage trainee, ridiculed Tsunade's judgment, and stated that Konoha had chosen its own pathway to destruction. Naruto tried to hold back himself but their laughter shattered his resolved._

_"You son of a bitch!" He lost his grip on his jutsu, lashed out against the 'fatman,' and recklessly spoiled Shikamaru well-thought plan._

_"RASENGAN!!!"_

_Naruto's battle cry followed by a loud booming explosion alerted Sasuke and Kakashi._

_They ran towards the explosion to aid him. When the dust surrounding the base finally settled, they found Naruto and his clones were surrounded and viciously fighting against the rebellion._

_"CHIDORI!"_

_Sparks flew directly from the darkened sky towards Sasuke's kusanagi and he ran full speed towards the commotion._

_Kusanagi violently slashed through whomever dared to cross its path._

_Shikamaru arrived just in time to see Sasuke calmly leaning against a cracked wall and watching Kakashi holding back Naruto from pulverizing the man who insulted him._

_Kakashi successfully detached Naruto strong grip from suffocating the man and pushed him towards Sasuke and Shikamaru._

_"Tell me who's your leader!" Kakashi grabbed the man shirt and interrogated him but he simply refused to cooperate and opted to spit at the copy-nin's face._

_Kakashi's visible eye hardened and he slowly wiped the man's disgusting spit from his mask._

_"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, lighted a cigarette, eagerly inhaled on it, and callously exhaled smoke towards the unsuspecting rebel leader._

_"Heh... No matter what you do, you won't get anything from me. Be happy for what you have now for it won't last. Konoha will lay in ruins." The man evilly cackled._

_"Fine, we'll do this the hard way." Kakashi pulled his forehead protector away from his covered eye revealing his sharingan. The man was caught in trance with Kakashi's unusual eye and before he knew it, he was caught into a deadly trap. Kakashi's sharingan spun in tune to an old-aged dance first started by the Uchihan clan's ancestors. The man mouth opened into a silent scream, eyes dulled out, and his whole body writhe in pain. No one ever knew what he saw but it was for certain that no man would ever want to be ensnarled by the sharingan's lethal genjutsu._

_"Kakashi-sensei, did you get anything?" Shikamaru asked as the copy nin dropped the man's lifeless body to the ground._

_"It's no use. He doesn't know anything."_

_"So what now?" Naruto piped in their conversation._

_Sasuke pushed back against the wall and walked towards Kakashi. "Dobe, if it weren't for your recklessness, we wouldn't be in this situation."_

_"WHAT?! I didn't do shit!"_

_"Enough you two." Kakashi stopped them before it could get worse. "Dig through the debris and gather as much as you can." He ordered his team._

_They worked throughout the rest of the day salvaging for scrolls buried under the wreckage before they headed back home._

_Once at the gate, the exhausted team was greeted by the guards and informed that the Hokage was waiting for their arrival. The team reported to Tsunade about their findings, discussed new tactics for an hour, and was later sent home._

_

* * *

_

_Sasuke went straight to the bathroom for a nice and hot shower. He hadn't bathe for a couple of days. The warm water massaged his tensed muscles._

_After that, he just crashed next to his sleeping wife. He wrapped his arms around Sakura, gently caressing her tummy, and was slowly lulled to a deep and peaceful slumber which he craved for days._

_Some time during the night, Sasuke woke up due to the loud crash coming from the kitchen. Disoriented, he looked around the bedroom and noticed that his wife was missing._

_Sasuke shot up in panic and dashed out of the bedroom in search for Sakura._

_He rushed to her side when he found her sitting on the kitchen floor with her hands covering her face._

_"Sakura, are you ok?" His voice was thickly laced with worry for his wife's well-being. Kneeling in front of her,_ _he gently pulled away her hands away from her face, cupped her face, and looked into her misty eyes._

_Her eyes were void. A shocked expression etched her pale face._

_"Koishii, what's wrong?" He was truly worried now._

_Silence._

_Something was definitely wrong._

_"Are you ok? Is the baby ok? I'll take you to the hospital." Sasuke leaned back and scooped his wife into his arms._

_Sakura finally snapped out of her trance when Sasuke stood up, gently carried her, and walked out of the kitchen._

_"Sasuke-kun?... What the?!... Where are you taking me?... Ey put me down..." Questions bombarded his unsuspecting_ ears.

_Sasuke stopped and looked down at her as she wiggled out of his arms._

_She walked back to the kitchen without another word. He followed his wife and found her back near the oven, fussing over something._

_"Sakura, what's wrong?" He curiously asked._

_"Everything's wrong!" She turned around and faced him, eyes glistened with unshed tears._

_"Are you hurt?" His eyes bled dark crimson when he thought that something bad had happened to her. He gently took his wife in his arms and scanned her body with his sharigan._

_Nothings seemed to be wrong with her. Even the baby's chakra wildly sparkled with life._

_"N-no... Umm... I-I..." Hiccups stopped her from uttering even just a single unbroken word.. Shivers racked her upper body._

_"Sakura, calm down and tell me what's wrong." He held her close to his chest, a warm hand was slowly rubbing her back trying to calm her down._

_"I-I woke up and I wanted some of Hinata's sugar cookies b-uut I forgot that I already ate all of it yesterday." She sniffed. "So I tried to make some... But it tasted weird so I made another one but it all burnt down..." Sakura unbelievably broke down. Her whole body shook violently as tears flowed down her soft cheeks._

_Sasuke instantly froze on the spot._

_What. The. Fuck?!._

_He couldn't believe it. He almost had a heart attack because he freaked out. Yes, the emotionless Uchiha FREAKED OUT. He thought that something bad had happened to her._

_His mind was bombarded with thoughts of terrible things that could have happened to her and here she was, not a single scratch and yet bawling her eyes out._

_And for what?..._

_What?... Dare he asked?..._

_Just for Hinata's sugar cookies?..._

_He closed his eyes and slowly breathed in and out._

_Silently willed himself to calm down and think of the situation as trial on how tough and patient he could be, especially during this critical time in his married life._

_His breathing exercises continued. He fleetingly thought how peculiar it was for a man such as himself doing breathing exercises where it should've been normally done by any pregnant woman, in his case, Sakura. If this was happening to somebody else other than himself, preferably Naruto, he would have at least cracked a smile or even laugh at the irony of it. But right now, laughing did not even crossed his mind._

_"Sasuke-kun..." She raised her head and tried to get his attention._

_"..." He gradually opened his eyes and met her puffy ones._

_"Umm..." She stopped and carefully arranged what she wanted to say in her head._

_"Hn?"_

_"Ummm... you know I love you, right?... And for that you would do anything for me, right?..." She started._

_"..." By the way she stated her supposedly harmless introduction to what she really wanted to say, Sasuke could feel that it wouldn't be good, especially for him._

_"Could you go to Hinata's house and ask her for some sugar cookies?"_

_"..." Disbelief and shock marred his normally neutral façade._

_"Sasuke-kun?... Please..." Sakura pouted her red lips and gave him the puppy eyes._

_She had used her weirdest and cutest weapon against him._

_Sasuke groaned. He knew that she had often used her puppy eyes against Naruto or Kakashi but he had never imagine that the day would come where she would use it against him._

_"Sakura can't it wait till tomorrow? It's three in the morning. Hinata's more likely asleep by now." He tried to reason with her._

_"But Sasuke-kun I won't be able to sleep unless I have some sugar cookies and a glass of hot milk... And it's not just me, the baby also wants it now."_

_There it was. She finally used her pregnancy to her advantage._

_Sakura requests, so far, had been reasonable from the very beginning. She did not asked or demanded for anything that was in contradiction to the norm ever since she got pregnant. He was beginning to wonder whether the rumors he heard about all the unusual requests of pregnant women were true. The past three months of her pregnancy, at least for him, had been uneventful and boring. Although he would never say it out aloud, Sasuke had been silently wishing for some excitement so he could at least feel that certain rush of adrenaline many expecting parents experienced._

_"Fine. If you won't go to her house and get me some sugar cookies, then, I'll just go by myself." She angrily pushed him away and freed herself from his tight embrace._

_"Sakura, it's already late. The streets are dark and covered in snow. Just wait till tomorrow." She stubbornly walked towards the front door, totally ignoring Sasuke's rational reasonings._

_He sighed dejectedly. "Sakura, please, be reasonable. The Hyuuga compound is on the other side of the village and it's impractical to just barge in there when you and I both know that Hinata's probably asleep by now."_

_Sakura stopped in the middle of putting her left snow shoes on, stared at him, and started whimpering for she knew that he was right._

_"Come on, let's go back to bed." Sasuke hoarsely said to her, his voice reflected how tired he really was._

_She miserably nodded, stood up, and was ushered by Sasuke back to their bedroom._

_"Wait" She stopped halfway as she remembered something. "Sasuke-kun, you could just go to Naruto's apartment."_

_"What?"_

_"I mean whenever Hinata would bake cookies she would always bring some to him. So... I am a hundred percent sure that Naruto would **definitely** have some sugar cookies. So, please could you just go and check for me." Her eyes sparkled with renewed hope._

_He thought about refusing her but the way her hopeful eyes shimmered withexpectation had him thinking otherwise._

_"Ok, I'll go." Sakura squealed with joy and enveloped him in a bone-crushing embrace as Sasuke ultimately gave in to her wishes._

_He pulled back, took a coat from the hallway closet, and proceeded towards the front door. "Stay here, lock the door, and wait for me." He looked over his shoulder before closing the door._

* * *

_Strong winds howled throughout the darkened streets of Konoha. The snow buried everything as it drizzled down and drained away the heat of the night._

_A lone figure treaded in silence._

_The moonlight illuminated its reflection upon the crystalline ice-crusted windows._

_Anyone who could've seen this fellow would automatically think that he was insane for going out in such horrible weather, in the dead of the night nonetheless. For those in the shinobi world, he would be consequently profiled as an enemy to the village. No one could ever guess that this person was out for the strangest reason._

_Sasuke shivered as snow covered him from head to toe._

_The mission exhausted him to the point where he could barely keep his eyes open and yet he was broodingly strolling down Konoha's snow-covered streets and why would he do this?..._

_Just to please his pregnant wife._

_He regretfully sighed in defeat._

_He just about hated himself for that stupid wish._

_He had no one to blame for this dilemma but himself._

_How come when you wish for a little something, you end up getting more than you bargained for?..._

_He continued asking himself all the way to Naruto's apartment._

_Forget about that expecting parent's adrenaline rush. He'd rather rush out of this predicament._

_It was not like Sakura's cravings were gross or weird or anything abnormal._

_It was just that she had an **ordinary** food craving at such an **unreasonable** time._

_He did not even want to think what else was in stored for him as her pregnancy progressed._

* * *

_Sasuke stopped in front of Naruto's apartment and resignedly knocked on his front door._

_Naruto must've been already snoozing off to la-la land so when nothing happened, he banged harder._

_A loud thump came from the other side before a disheveled Naruto suddenly opened the door in nothing but his boxers designed with bowls of ramen printed all over._

_"**Teme?!**" Naruto's zombie-like voice greeted him. "What the fuck are you doing here?"_

_"Hn." He casually let himself inside the apartment ignoring Naruto's protest._

_"Hey, you can't just barge in here like you own the place! Can't you respect my privacy like a normal person would."_

_Sasuke simply raised his eyebrow at him. "Dobe, how could you know anything about privacy when you would, most of the time, unceremoniously barge in my house uninvited."_

_"Naruto who is it?..." Their attention was suddenly diverted away from each other as Hinata emerged from the bathroom in nothing but a small towel wrapped around her slender body._

_Sasuke looked back towards Naruto and noticed that he was slightly drenched._

_Everything clicked as he put two and two together._

_Damn._

_Sakura sure had terrible timing._

_Hinata's face rivaled a red rose when she noticed Sasuke in the room. She let out a small squeak before backing up towards the bathroom and hurriedly slammed the door shut._

_"Dobe, you could've at least warned me." He growled at him. He did not need to know what was going on between Naruto and Hinata at the moment._

_Naruto combed his tousled blonde hair and smirked at Sasuke. "Well, serves you right. What are you doing here anyways?"_

_Sasuke wanted to get the hell out of the apartment as soon as possible so he just blurted out what he wanted from him. "Do you have any of Hinata's sugar cookies?"_

_"Huh?" Naruto confusedly gaped at him._

_Sugar cookies?_

_At almost four in the morning?_

_What?!_

_"I know you're not deaf, so I'm not repeating myself."_

_Naruto regained his composure and asked, "What are you gonna do with sugar cookies?"_

_Sasuke swallowed his pride and dejectedly spoke up, "Sakura's craving for sugar cookies and she wouldn't sleep until she eats some."_

_The blonde's face slowly broke out into a wide smile, then a chuckle, and finally a full blown uncontrolled laughter echoed throughout the apartment's walls._

_Sasuke's eye vigorously twitched as he waited as patient as he could for the laughing hyena to calm down._

_"So let me get this straight. You walked across that blizzard out there in the wee hours of the morning just so Sakura-chan could get a hold of Hinata's sugar cookies?" Naruto wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes as his body was continually trembled with laughter._

_"Hn." Sasuke icily glared at him."Damn teme, I thought I would never see the day that you, my friend, would surrender to Sakura-chan. Man, **you** are so **whipped**!" Laughter yet again erupted from Naruto as Sasuke was left brooding over his bruised ego._

_"Dobe, just tell me if you have some or not!" He shouted._

_"Alright. Alright. You're lucky Hinata just brought some after I came back." Naruto walked towards the kitchen, grabbed a box presumably filled with cookies, went back, and tossed it to Sasuke._

_"You owe me one, teme." He grinned._

_"Whatever." Sasuke abruptly turned around to leave._

_"Bye… Mr. lap dog!" Naruto hollered right before Sasuke closed the door._

_Sasuke glared at the box as he walked outside the apartment complex._

_He suddenly stopped and his eyebrows furrowed in anger._

_He quickly executed the necessary hand signs and teleported himself back home._

_He was pissed._

_For a genius such as himself, he could've thought about that jutsu earlier instead of walking to Naruto's apartment._

_He came back looking like he went through the most exhausting mission he had ever went through. Sasuke handed the box to his wife and went straight to bed without a single word._

_After she settled her cravings, Sakura graciously showered him with love in exchange for the troubles he went through just to get her sweet treat. Her touches seemed to melt everything away._

* * *

That night might have left him with a slightly deflated ego but Sasuke was fine with it as long as Sakura was happy.

From then on, she would always get her way.

_

* * *

_

"But what do you mean no?" Sakura pouted.

"Sakura, No means no." He firmly stated.

"But why?" Irritation clearly etched over her beautiful face.

He lowered his sword and pointedly looked at her flat belly.

She slowly followed his line of vision and directed her emerald eyes to her stomach.

Sakura tenderly placed her left hand over her abdomen. She realized why he was so firm on keeping her in the village.

_

* * *

_

Sasuke was just worried about her and the baby's safety. He would go crazy if something bad was ever to happen to both of them.

He would not be able to take it if he lost his family the second time around.

He did not want to ever experience his darkest hours all over again.

The path that he took just to achieved the life that he has now was full of pain, loneliness, and vengeance.

His heart, mind, and soul were corrupted and tainted by the bloodlust. He was spiraled into his own self-destruction at such a tender age. A young and naive boy simply lost in the darkness.

But as long as she was with him, he would never thread on that path ever again.

He simply refused to let go of Sakura and his newfound happiness with her.

Sasuke bowed to himself that he would ensure Sakura's and their baby's safety even if it caused him his life.

* * *

"But I'm only in my third month and **clearly** I'm not even showing yet. And I can very much take care of myself." She stood her ground.

Sasuke might be stubborn but his stubbornness was nothing compared to her utter persistence.

"I know you can take care of yourself but traveling to Suna is very stressful and will take days."

"But Naruto would be there with me. And Sai too. I think both of them are enough to watch over me." She informed him.

"No."

Sakura thought that having her teammates with her would somehow change his mind.

Her patience with her husband was running short. She understood that he was simply protective of her and their baby but this was just way too much.

"But I have to go. And you know why!"

* * *

Ever since Konoha and Suna formed an alliance, a part of their peace treaty stated that Konoha would provide medical help for Suna and also train medics for their village. The Sand village was in great need when it came to the medical field for they lacked hospital facilities and equipments, medical knowledge, and trained doctors, nurses, and medics. Suna focused more on enhancing their shinobi's abilities and had left the medical field behind its priorities.

Gaara noticed the village lacked in medical needs even before he became the Kazekage. However, there wasn't anything that he could do especially back then when he used to be a very narrowed-minded adolescent who couldn't careless about the people around him, even those people were his family. His persona and outlook to life had been greatly influenced by his childhood experiences. It was an undeniable fact that his father had planned to eliminate him. It had caused a severe damage to his growth mentally and emotionally.

Gaara's sleep-deprived mind controlled by the Nibi had his eyes always on the alert and opened to the world and yet he could not see what was in front of him.

But after the chuunin exam encounter, Naruto, Sakura, and, even at some point, Sasuke, truly opened his eyes. They showed him how beautiful the world was even though it was being corrupted by crooked men. He thought that his feelings was buried along with his mother's death and never had realized that his mother's unconditional love was still around him. He just had to open his eyes and fully see that his siblings had always been there for him. Just like Sasuke, all Gaara had to do was to relearn how to love all over again. From then on, he realized that he could somehow make a difference, in a sense, change the world or at least his village.

After Gaara became Kazekage, he was tested when he and Temari almost lost Kankuro. Kankuro had been inflicted with a deadly poison and if it wasn't for Sakura, he could have died in an instant. Gaara had seen the importance of having a medical personnel on standby. He had seen the potential of Suna growing with the alliance with Konoha.

On the earlier stage of their alliance, Tsunade assigned Sakura to head the medical training program of new medics. She was stationed there for a year before the Akatsuki war broke out. She had closely worked with Gaara and his siblings. Throughout the year, she accomplished many things. Suna now had an well-equipped hospital fully staffed with skilled doctors and nurses. The village also had formed squads of medic nins that could accompany teams during critical missions. By the end of the year and her station, Sakura proposed for a medical convoy that would visit and provide new medical information and updates to Suna twice a year.

She had been leading the convoy ever since Tsunade approved of it and this month was scheduled for her visit to Suna.

* * *

"Fine. But I'm going with you."

"But you can't Sasuke-kun. If I remember correctly, you have a mission with Kakashi-sensei and Neji. So you can't possible go with us tomorrow." She smartly countered. _"HA!...Let's see your comeback for that one."_

"I'll cancel it." He resumed on sharpening his weapons.

"What? You can't do that!. I'm not a child, Sasuke!" She irritably banged on the center table which earned her Sasuke full attention.

"Either I go or you stay. End of discussion."

Sakura sighed and eventually gave up.

It was pointless anyway.

When Sasuke had his mind set on something, even the destruction of the world would **never **be able to stop him.

She'll just have to wait and see what would happen when he talked to the Hokage.

It would not look good, for him at least.

That was for sure.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Sorry for the late update. I was slumped with midterm exams and term papers. Also, I was uploading this chapter a few days ago but fanfiction had problems with the site, I kept getting error messages. The site is still experiencing some technical errors. I had to reedit this chapter for certain sequences were messed up, so if you guys noticed anything unusual with the sequence of events, please tell me so I could fix it. Thanks.**

**Anyways, this was supposed to be longer up to the preview that I gave last chapter but I wanted to update for you guys. This is only the first part of this chapter. I'll upload the second part as soon as I can. So no worries... **

**Again, I apologize for the late update. **

**And, thank you for all my readers and reviewers... You guys are the best... All the reviews made me happy and encouraged me to update sooner. **

**So, domo arigatou gozaimashita.**

**Don't forget to leave a review. **

**Happy reading.**

* * *


	9. Fire and Ice

* * *

Chapter 9: Fire and Ice

Papers scattered everywhere as more and more scrolls were thrown from the center table then across the other side of the Hokage office. The blonde Hokage was currently sorting through a bunch of mission reports from all of the shinobi that had just finished their tasks, the rest were new laws that were being pushed by the elders and Konoha's district representatives, and a whole pile of complaints from both the elites and commoners.

Exhaustion etched over Tsunade's face as her hand slowly inched its way towards the desk's drawer where her precious sake was stored.

Her hand was just about to grasped the neck of the bottle when Shizune's voice stopped her.

"Tsunade-sama, the Uchiha couple's here. Would you like me to let them in?" Shizune opened the door to the hokage office. Another pile of scrolls and paper works towered over Shizune's slender figure as she carried it towards one frustrated Hokage.

"Sasuke and Sakura? What for? I don't remember any schedule with them, especially that Uchiha brat."

"Sakura said that they had something important to talk to you about." She explained.

"Alright. Just send them in." Tsunade dismissed Shizune as she continued on looking over the new set of documents in front of her.

Outside the door, Sakura was waiting patiently for Shizune while Sasuke simply assumed his usual brooding position as he leaned on the nearest wall with his arms across his chest and eyes shut out the world around him.

Shizune came out of the office. "Sakura-chan, the Hokage will see you guys now."

"Arigatou, Shizune-san."

* * *

The couple entered the office. Sasuke raised one fine eyebrow at Tsunade who was eagerly gulping down sake like there was no tomorrow. She did not even noticed that the two were standing in front of her, waiting for her to acknowledge them.

Sakura cleared her throat which caught Tsunade's attention.

"Ehem… Ohayou gozaimasu, shishou. I hope we're not disturbing you." She politely greeted the half-drunk Hokage.

Tsunade gulped down the rest of the sake, placed down the bottle, wiped her mouth with her robes, before finally responded to her apprentice.

"Hn. It's not like the presence of your husband is already a disturbance." Sarcasm sipped though her red lips.

As usual, Sasuke paid no mind and simply rolled his eyes at her.

"SHISHOU!"

"Yeah. Yeah. Be civil. I get it. So, what do you guys want? If you haven't notice I'm busy running this village."

Sakura sat down to the nearest chair in front of Tsunade's desk and asked for Sasuke to do the same but he deliberately ignored her and simply towered over the two women.

She shook her head at his husband's stubbornness before turning her attention to Tsunade who was yet again gulping down another bottle of sake.

"If you mean drinking at ten in the morning working, then I guess we can pretty much disturb you."

"Hey, don't be so anal about me drinking. It's cold outside and a doctor such as yourself should know that sake is a good insulator." She defended and took another swig on her sake bottle. "Ahhh… Definitely warms you up."

"I can tell that your robes are not made out of sake so don't use that insulator shit, and you have a freaking heater here. Does Shizune even knows you're already drinking?" Sakura lectured.

"Lay off my back will you." She snorted at her apprentice's sharp comeback. "So, what do you guys really want?"

"Sasuke-kun here have some small request from you." She sheepishly smiled and prompted for Sasuke to speak up.

"I'm canceling the mission tomorrow." He plainly stated and made eye contact with the Hokage.

Tsunade raised one elegant eyebrow at him. "Hmm… Funny, I could've sworn you said you're canceling your mission. The weather might've been freezing my eardrums, so could you repeat that again."

"The mission is cancelled." His bluntness ignited Tsunade's anger.

Her dazed eyes suddenly blazed with uncontrolled anger.

"And who the fuck gave you the authority to do that? Huh, Uchiha?" Her eyes narrowed down to the tiniest slits, to the point where her hazel eyes were barely seen though her long lashes.

If it were an ordinary person, shinobi or not, he or she would probably be sweating through out his or her body, down the last pore, until he or she dehydrated and end up getting a heat stroke due to the intensity of her glare.

Unfortunately for her, Sasuke was never the normal one.

Silence enveloped the office for a few minutes.

"That's right, no one gave you permission. Why do you need to cancel the mission?"

It seemed like her glares just bounced off of the stoic Uchiha.

He gave her a glare of his own, which ultimately proved to be the grandfather of all glares, including hers.

She didn't backed down.

The silence of the room was sliced by the sound of electricity crashing between the two hard-headed adults.

Tsunade released a defeated sigh when she figured that nothing would ever intimidate him.

"Uchiha, you're wasting my time. Just get on with your point."

"I'm going with Sakura tomorrow."

"WHAT?!" Her booming voice made Sakura almost fell out of her chair and created tremors which shook the foundations of the Hokage tower.

"Please, shishou, calm down."

"Calm down?!" She exclaimed. "His mission for tomorrow can not be canceled. And why the hell would you wanna go with Sakura? I don't remember you being a doctor."

"The mission can wait. I already informed my team. All I need is your approval."

"That's not the point here, Uchiha! You cancelled it before even informing me."

Sasuke remained emotionless through out her outburst.

His stoic look annoyed Tsunade to no end, and her sharp nails was itching to be sharpened with his face.

"Shishou, the mission is only another spying mission, right? Couldn't it be delayed just for now?" Sakura tried to intervene.

Tsunade turned her attention away from Sasuke and directly her anger at Sakura. "That's not it either, Sakura. Why all of a sudden he's interested in this medical convoy. He couldn't care less of you doing this before. Why start now?"

"Well, it is kinda different now." She started.

"How different?" Tsunade urged her apprentice to continue.

But before Sakura could even open her mouth to explain, Sasuke answered for her.

"There's not a single chance I would let my pregnant wife on this convoy."

"Oh." Tsunade's anger suddenly dissipated into thin air. "Heh, I seemed to forget that you're pregnant." She tenderly smiled at her apprentice.

Sasuke snorted. "Che, that's not a surprise. You're probably too wasted to remember."

Some of her anger instantly returned and her bloodshot eyes pierced through him.

"You're stepping out of line, Sasuke Uchiha." She seethed.

"Hn."

"And I've told you, don't hn me. Have some respect for your Hokage before I change my mind and completely banish you!" She held herself from banging the hell out of her new desk. She just replaced it yesterday after one of her Hokage-in-training sessions with Konoha's number one goofball.

"Tsunade-shishou, you don't need to go that far. Please, calm down and hear us out."

"Sakura, I love you like my own daughter but I am first and foremost the Hokage. I **can't **and **will** not tolerate your husband's attitude."

"Sasuke-kun did not mean to be rude and I know he's very sorry for how he acted. Aren't you, Sasuke?." She glared at him.

"I have noth- Owww" He started but was cut off when her right foot slammed itself to his left foot. The impact almost crushed the bones on his foot.

"What was that Sasuke?" Fake smile plastered on her face.

Shivers ran down his spine. He finally decided to follow his wife before she crushed another part of his anatomy.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama." His apology sounded forced.

"Hmmph, apologies my ass!"

"Shishou, he's really serious, so please reconsider your orders" She tried to reason with her.

"Hmmph. Fine. But one more of his disrespectfulness and I'm gonna take back all the Uchiha properties, including the whole compound and your mansion. Sakura could stay with me, you, on the other hand, could sleep on the street and be homeless for all I care." She threatened.

Last month, the reconstruction of the Uchiha compound was finally finished. Everything was fully furnished up to the marbled toilet bowl. The couple had just moved in the main mansion two weeks ago after Tsunade signed off the property back to its rightful owner and only heir.

"What?! You can't do that! All of that is legally owned by the Uchiha clan." Her threat finally resulted an outburst from him.

"Try me."

"Ok children, we don't need to be trying anything right now. So, please play **nice**." Her grip on the table made a cracking sound. Its edge slowly cracked from where she was gripping it towards the opposite side where Tsunade was leaning against.

The chilling aura that radiated off of her body was enough to stop them.

Whoever said pregnant women were delicate and fragile must've been stupid or haven't met Sakura yet. Damn, she was just freaky, plain and simple.

* * *

In the end, Sasuke ended up getting his way yet again. Somehow he made a sharp turn and used his undeniable intelligence against the Hokage. Tsunade couldn't find any loophole around his argument, dejectedly gave up, and allowed him to accompany Sakura to Suna.

After the disastrous morning with Tsunade, the couple went to the grocery store to buy supplies for their trip.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura woke up bright and early. She quickly showered and prepared breakfast for the two of them.

They were ready to get out of the house even before the sun started to rise over the horizon.

It was a chilly morning and Sasuke made sure that Sakura was wearing enough to keep her warm. He was being extra protective of her and wouldn't allow her to leave the house until she had at least two winter jackets on.

Sakura, on the other hand, was pretty much getting annoyed with her husband. She didn't want to start her morning getting worked up by her eccentric husband so she just pointedly ignored him though out their walk towards the gate where they were supposed to meet Naruto and Sai.

The trip to Suna was uneventful and everything went as planned with the team.

Although, the three day trip was stretched to a five and half trip due to Sasuke stopping the group every three hours. He claimed that Sakura's current condition left her body to be unfit for such long trips so she needed to rest. Sakura stubbornly argued against him but would always end up losing whenever he would bring up their baby in the argument.

Naruto simply watched the two argue and laughed from time to time at how childish they looked. Sai, on the other hand, would always lean against a tree, take out his sketchpad, and draw the couple having their lovers' spat.

Sai would occasionally asked Naruto about the emotional dynamics behind the Uchiha couple. Naruto would just laugh and told him to listened carefully and jot down his observations. Naruto analyzed the couple while Sai vigorously took notes to be added as another chapter to his 'research' about human emotions.

* * *

The days passed by and the group arrived in Suna. Gaara had made arrangements for the group to stay in the Kazekage's mansion.

Naruto practiced his Hokage trainings as him and Gaara held meetings with the elders and anbu elites of the village.

In the meantime, Sakura had immediately started working the moment they arrived. She went to check the main hospital in the village and had seminars with its doctors and nurses. Sasuke followed her around, glared, and sneered upon those who he deemed were trying to hit on his wife.

Before, his possessiveness did not bother Sakura at all. She thought it was kind of nice to have to him act like that. In a sense, she could somehow feel that she was special to him.

But right now, he was really getting on her last nerve. Sasuke was being a possessive and chauvinistic brute, and he was clearly disrupting her work.

How could she possibly work with the doctors, whom most were males, when he was breathing ice down their throats and glaring fire-ignited daggers at their direction.

By day three in the village, the doctors were very cautious when they were around her for they did not want a repeat of what happened the day before.

One of the doctors ignored Sasuke's visibly invisible warning signs he placed upon Sakura and approached her with intentions of asking her out to dinner and insinuated on leaving Sasuke for someone who he thought was much better suited for her. The poor guy did not know who he was dealing with.

Sasuke lunged at him with the purest intent of killing him and later defended that he was 'graciously' eliminating the village one less idiotic doctor.

The commotion alerted shinobis who were patrolling the hospital grounds, but even the three young chuunin level shinobis were not enough to stop Sasuke's rampage.

Sakura had to use her inhumane strength just to haul him off of the bloody doctor and threw him to the other side of the room.

She tried to help the crippled doctor but before she could even reach him, the young doctor sprinted out of the room as far away from her. And if he must, he would move to the other side of the village just to stay clear from Sasuke's 'evil' sights.

* * *

After that catastrophic event, Sakura was seething fire down her husband's 'innocent' face. It was almost as if the fire was real enough to scorch him. Sasuke had a nagging thought in the back of his mind that his wife was either a menacing dragon in her past life or she was simply destined to be one in the future.

Sakura finally banned Sasuke from being with her during work when she did not get any reaction or any reasonable explanation from him. She event went to great lengths of setting a chakra shield that was similar to the shield around Konoha's borders that was especially designed and enhanced to detect Sasuke's charka signature and shock him whenever he crossed the ten-mile radius around her.

So, nothing was left for him but hang out with Naruto and Sai for the rest of the trip.

* * *

"Sakura-chan are you sure that you have everything you need for your trip back to home?" Kankuro asked as he inspected her duffle bag.

"Yeah, I think I have everything. Food, scrolls, first-aid kit, drink…" Sakura replied.

The group was being escorted by Gaara and his siblings towards the village's borders.

"Kazekage-sama, arigatou for your hospitality." Sakura bowed down in respect.

"Sakura, I told you. No need for formalities."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan. You know how he hates it especially when its coming from you. His allergic from it." Temari joked around causing Naruto and Kankuro to laugh.

"If ever Gaara was to get allergies and be all blown up, he would look like a giant panda with that dark circles in his eyes." Naruto snorted before continuing, "That is, a gothic furless panda who's going through the phase of his teenage rebellion." He laughed as he pointed at Gaara's red hair.

"Hn." Simply replied the Kazekage.

"Ah-ah-ah Naruto, you better stop if you still want to be Hokage." Temari warned.

All laugher ceased as Naruto confusedly stared at her.

"Yep, that's right. Gaara has a say in **you** being the **next **Hokage since Tsunade asked him for further recommendation."

"WHAT?!! She did not!"

"Did too"

"Nah-uh"

"Yeah-huh"

"Would you two shut the hell up!" Gaara cut them off.

His outburst had everyone widely staring at him. Gaara rarely yell or curse just to get anyone to conform to his bidding. The only time he created an outburst such as this was when he released the Nibi and that was pretty much it. Even Suna's council and elders were silenced by just one look from their Kazekage.

"Stop this nonsense and let's go." Sasuke nodded towards Gaara, turned around, and walked out of the village.

Sakura shook her head and turned towards Gaara. "Well, we better get going. Thank you again Gaara." She hugged him.

Gaara returned her warm embrace. "You take of yourself Sakura."

"Thanks." She pulled away and hugged Temari and Kankuro goodbye.

"Yeah yeah. Stop the mushiness Sakura-chan. Jaa." Naruto said, bid Gaara and his siblings goodbye, and hurried after Sasuke.

"Arigatou, Kazekage-sama." Sai bowed down in respect then followed the guys.

"You guys take care of yourselves too, aight. And be sure to visit us." Sakura waved goodbye and ran to catch up with her team.

* * *

**A/N: **

**First and foremost, I am really sorry for the late update. I typed up the next part of this chapter and I'm just going to proofread it. Reviews are very much appreciated.**

**So, happy reading. Don't forget to review.**


	10. Author's Note

Hey everyone!

I know it has been awhile since I last updated because my computer crashed on me last December and I haven't had the chance to get it fix yet. Two freakishly looong and competely finished chapters were in my hard drive and I'm totally bummed out because I didn't save it elsewhere and now its all gone. So, I apologize because I will not be updating until summer vacation due to school. I hope you guys understand. Thanks and see you next month...

love love love

mustardsandwich


End file.
